


Harry Potter and Magical Beginnings

by King_Cheetah19



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Flurry, Harry is Lord Potter, Heir of Gryffindor Neville Longbottom, Heir of Hufflepuff Hermione Granger, Heir of Ravenclaw OC, Heir of Slytherin Harry Potter, Heirs of Hogwarts Founders, Heirs of Hogwarts Founders Prophecy, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Powerful Harry Potter, Powerful Hermione Granger, Powerful Neville Longbottom, Powerful Original Character, Ron Weasley Bashing, Slow Burn (kinda), Slytherin Ron Weasley, Whatever couple name Harry/Fleur have, flowerpot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:08:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 26,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24196462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/King_Cheetah19/pseuds/King_Cheetah19
Summary: Harry Potter is very unique. After growing up on Privet Dr. with only one real friend, watch as he is selected to attend Britain's most prestigious wizarding school and continues to prove himself against all odds. His first year is full of surprises and adventures meeting 2 other life long friends forming unbreakable bonds as they are introduced to all things magic.Features: Powerful Harry, Smart Harry, Confident Neville, Powerful Neville, Powerful Hermione, Ravenclaw Hermione, Powerful OMC, Ravenclaw OMC, and so much more!
Relationships: Fleur Delacour/Harry Potter, Harry Potter & Hermione Granger & Neville Longbottom & Original Character, Harry Potter & Original Male Character(s), Hermione Granger & Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Original Male Character(s), Neville Longbottom & Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood
Comments: 32
Kudos: 76





	1. We Are Pleased To Inform You

**Preface:**

Hello everyone and welcome to my very first attempt at a Harry Potter fanfiction. As someone who enjoys reading fanfics and has tried writing some in the past, I hope I can continue this story to a point where it satisfies you all. I will be cross posting this on both Archives of Our Own (AO3) and Fanfiction.net (FFN). I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling. Now I wish to inform you all that I have not read all of the books nor have I watched any of the movies. I know that this might seem like a disservice to the franchise that I am writing about but I hope that by staying familiar with the franchise but not too familiar it might be more creative and give me more freedoms to work with. I have gotten my understanding about the Harry Potter universe through friends’ discussions and fanfics that I have read myself so I think I can create a fanfic myself. Please note that the potential for this work to get abandoned or rewritten is high, I have never continued a work past a few chapters. I really hope that this doesn’t happen but I cannot promise anything. I hope to keep a posting schedule for this work with 1-2 posts per week at least with the first week probably being 3 chapters since I am fresh and have the mindset to write this. Thank you all for your understanding. 

For those of you reading on AO3, I am still working on the rewrite of “A Spider’s Life” but got distracted with school and a new interest in writing this story. I will be cross posting that rewrite to FFN when I have enough done and I think I am ready to post. I hope to have one other active series featuring Kara Danvers/Barry Allen but I have yet to start that story yet so I am not sure when it will exist. I will make sure to keep everyone updated.

Thanks for reading- KingCheetah19

**Chapter 1:**

Harry woke up again under his cupboard to his head aching and his back in pain. The last 11 years of his life have been hell but at least his horrible family is letting him go out and see his friend on his birthday. Of course, he has to make breakfast and clean before he leaves but he gets these done rather quickly and leaves the house bright and early at 8 am. He arrives at his friends house to see Kevin and his family standing in the doorway waiting for him. 

Kevin has been his friend since him and his family moved to England from America. His father worked as an engineer and his mother stayed at home to help take care of Kevin and the household. He met Kevin in his 3rd year of primary school and they became quick friends. The 2 most bullied kids in the school found each other and refused to let go. Kevin was bullied because of his intellect. He constantly got the highest grade on tests and assignments and was years ahead of the curriculum but stayed in Harry’s class because Harry was his only friend. Harry, of course, was bullied because he was a freak but he didn’t really understand why he was considered a freak to begin with. Harry’s intellect was not the same as Kevin’s but Harry knew that he was smart. He had to hold himself back in school in order to prevent himself from getting higher grades than the perfect Duddikens. 

Kevin ran up and hugged his best friend and told him that someone else was here to see him. After greeting Kevin’s parents, he shivered hoping that it wasn’t the social services lady that they had called many times prior. See Kevin’s family knew that the Dursley’s were abusing Harry, both mentally and physically, and had called Child Protective Services multiple times but everytime they called it went nowhere. Every time they would be shocked about Harry’s scars and his stories but after going to the Dursley’s they would seemingly forget anything ever happened. Harry assumed that the Dursleys paid them off but the Dursleys were not that rich.

Once Harry entered the home, he was met by someone wearing weird long robes. Harry didn’t know what to think of this old man, it looked more like this man was wearing his sleepwear rather than actual clothes. “Ah, Mr. Potter.” he said, “I hear it is your 11th birthday, I am here to give you my gift for your birthday. Kevin here received the same gift a couple months ago. Please, take this letter and this box. I am very busy and I must be off. Happy Birthday Harry.” and with that he walked out the front door and disappeared in front of Harry’s eyes.

Shocked, he started to tear open the letter when Kevin’s mum, Sara as he has been told to call her many times, told him to be patient and open those gifts last. She claimed that if he opened the gifts from the man first that he wouldn’t get to the gifts they had gotten him. Harry still wasn’t used to receiving gifts, for the first part of his life, all he would receive would be beatings from his relatives on his birthday. Now that he had a surrogate family in the Schneiders, he felt overwhelmed in the love and care that they gave him. Kevin gave him his first gift from his parents. Sara and David, Kevin’s father, looked expectantly at the young boy as he unwrapped the gift. Inside he pulled out a pair of jeans and a new t-shirt. “I’m sorry we cannot afford much” David said, “As you know, I will be graduating medical school this year and I’m hoping to make some money after that but I have so many student loans. I hope you like the clothes, they should fit you better than any of that bully’s handidowns.” He walked over and hugged David and Sara thanking them over and over again for their gift. It was more than the Dursleys ever gave him and they should know that he likes new clothes by now since they had gotten him clothes almost every year for his birthday. 

Harry then turned to Kevin who was holding up another gift, “Harry this one is from me, I had been saving up some of my lunch money during the school year and decided to buy this for you. I really hope you like it, but I’m not sure…” he said trailing off. Harry opened the package to see a used gameboy inside. Nearly crying with emotion he hugged his best friend with all the power he could manage making the other boy jump with shock. Harry had never been given something to play with, let alone something this expensive. “Kevin you really shouldn’t have spent all this money on me, you know. I know you wanted to get one of these for yourself, why didn’t you?” Harry asked.

“Harry, I have been very lucky to be in the situation I am with my family.” Kevin started, “I have more than I need when it comes to games and toys. I wanted to get something special for you. And I expect you to let me play with it every now and then.” he added at the end with a laugh.

Harry hugged his best friend again, thanking everyone for all of their kindness and generosity. He never had a birthday as amazing as this one. He turned toward the partially opened letter and began to open the envelope again, inside was a letter and it read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

On the second page it listed a bunch of the required supplies that he needed to obtain before going off to school. He stared at the document and then looked back up at Kevin and his parents. “I’m a what?” Harry asked.


	2. Dual Cores

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling.

I also want to preface that I am American and do not know the British slang for most things. I am going to try to incorporate it as much as possible but I’m just not familiar enough with the intricacies of British English to do it justice. 

Thanks for reading - KingCheetah19

**Chapter 2:**

“I’m a what?” Harry asked.

“You’re a wizard Harry!” Kevin replied, “and so am I!” As he said that he showed Harry his own letter. Harry looked at him in disbelief. 

“Alright you two, I know it is incredible news and something that is quite shocking but Harry still has to open his last gift. By the way Harry, that man that came here, that was Headmaster Dumbledore, he is the person in charge at Hogwarts.” said Sara trying to calm Kevin down. Kevin quickly nodded and pressed Harry’s last gift into his abdomen. Harry took it from him, still confused, and began to open it. It was a book and its title was  _ An Introduction to the Wizarding World for Muggleborn _ . Harry opened it and found a note sitting inside, ‘Harry this is the very same book I gave to your mother when she got her acceptance letter to Hogwarts. I’m sorry that I am not there to give you it in person and I hope that you can learn all that you need to from this book before you come to Hogwarts. I can’t wait to meet you properly.’ Signed Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. After reading the note, Kevin looked at the book in awe, Harry knew that he must not have received his own copy. “Do you mind if we share this and read it together?” Kevin asked excitedly, “I know we are going to a place called Diagon Alley for school supplies in a week but I want to learn as much as I can before we leave.” 

“Of course, mate” Harry responds “let’s start reading it right now.” Before he went into the sitting room to read, Sara turned him around and led him into the dining room for a late lunch. Kevin’s family had always made sure to feed him as much as they could when he was over at their house . They couldn’t control what the Dursleys did but they could try to give Harry as much of a normal life as they could at their house. Well, maybe not normal since both of the young boys were now wizards. As they sung Harry Happy Birthday, he looked back on his life and decided that there were no better people than the Schneiders. 

\----- One Week Later -----

Harry and Kevin had both managed to read the book in record time. Kevin, of course, had read it front to back at least 4 times but Harry had managed to read it twice so he knew what to expect when they went to Diagon Alley and later, when he went to Hogwarts. Kevin’s parents had graciously let him stay over the last week where he considered the closest thing to him as home. Now Kevin and Harry were waiting by the front door ready to leave for Diagon Alley. They would be picked up by Professor Mcgonagall and they would travel together. 

Once they arrived at the alley, Harry and Kevin were shocked about the use of magic in this small pocket in central London. Their first stop was Gringotts. While Kevin had managed to earn a full ride scholarship to Hogwarts, Harry still had to pay for his school work. Harry had no idea how he was going to do that, but he was told that he was left some money by his parents. Stepping into the bank, they noticed the goblins scurrying around. Wide eyed and amazed at the site of those amazing creatures, they approached the service representative and asked to make a withdrawal. After handing the goblin their keys to their accounts, both boys were asked if they wanted to take an inheritance test and a health test. After giving some blood for the potions, they retrieved money from Harry’s vault and Kevin’s scholarship fund before exiting the bank.

Harry was surprised to learn that his parents were wealthy and left him a large amount of money for school and an even larger amount of money once he graduated and was of age. They left the bank and shortly after were surrounded by people. At first they didn’t really notice because they were just trying to get to Ollivander’s but then the crowd grew big enough to start hearing people say things. 

“Are you Harry Potter?” a young woman said and Harry looked confused and then responded in the affirmative. After that a roar was heard over the crowd but Kevin and Harry had reached Ollivander’s shop and were quickly whisked inside and the door shut behind them.

An older man called out, “Ah Mister Harry Potter, I’ve been waiting a long time for this day.” Kevin and Harry looked at each other and then greeted him. 

“Ah, I see you have a friend with you. And who might you be, young man?” Ollivander asked.

“My name is Kevin, sir. Kevin Schneider.” his friend responded timidly. Ollivander came and shook his hand. 

“Alright then, Mr. Potter and Mr. Schneider. Shall we get you your wands?” he responds, leading them into the back room of his shop. “I had a feeling when you walked into this shop that you both need something a bit more custom than my normal wands. I’m the greatest wandmaker in all of Britain but even then I have to go back to the books for some. You two, I could sense your auras from across my store.” he explained, “You both are much more powerful than any normal wizard.”

Ollivander took out boxes filled with different types of wood as he did so he stated, “I need you each to grab a piece of wood. When you find one that jumps out to you, tell me. I’ll make sure it is the right choice.” Harry went through six different wood types before a small tingle went through his body, “Ah Mr. Potter, I see that holly has chosen you. A very protective type of wood. It will serve you well.” It was then that walnut wood had chosen Kevin “Walnut wood, Mr Schneider, said to value high intellect and to be very adaptable.”

Ollivander took out a measuring tape and measured the height of his customers. Although they were around the same height, Harry obtained an 11 inch wand while Kevin obtained one slightly shorter at 10 ¾ inches. Ollivander explained that Kevin’s aura gave off the impression of intricacy and detail, therefore, he needed a shorter wand. Harry asked him what his aura represented and the wand maker told him that he was powerful and creative.

After obtaining their measurements, the last detail was wand core. Going off on a limb, Ollivander gave Harry a phoenix feather first which caused a huge red flare of energy to circle the room. In shock, Ollivander set it down and told Harry to look at other cores just in case but he thought that the phoenix feather was right for him. Not too much later Harry grabbed a veela hair and another burst of energy flooded the room, this time it was green. Instead of all power, this one was more relaxed and stable. Ollivander looked at him inquisitively. He put them together and instructed Harry to touch them and the resulting burst of white energy was the right balance of both power and precision. “Well Harry, it looks like you are suited for a dual core wand. This is rather exciting!” exclaimed the wand maker. He went on to explain how he had never made such a wand before and it would prove to be a rare opportunity. 

Kevin then found a dragon heartstring and another burst of energy shot out, this time being purple. Ollivander instructed Kevin to keep trying options because, after Harry, he had a feeling that Kevin would also be getting a dual core. The next core he touched was a thunderbird tail feather which shot off a yellow aura. Combining the two cores like he saw with Harry proved a similar result of both a powerful energy surge but also much more control. “Ah Mr. Schneider, a dual core for you as well! This is incredible, you both are going to do amazing things. And I see that you each have a veela hair and a thunderbird feather respectively. My, my, those are the only ones I have of those items and will be the first time I make a wand with them. This day has been getting better and better!” exclaimed an excited Ollivander, “Now run along and collect the rest of your supplies, this will take time but only a couple of hours.”


	3. Gringotts Magical Bank

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling. 

As a side note, I do not have a beta so please let me know about all the spelling and grammar errors. I am a native English speaker but I know my spelling and grammar are not great and I’m sure I will make a lot of mistakes.

And, as always, thanks for reading - KingCheetah19

**Chapter 3:**

Stepping back out into Diagon Alley, the crowd seemed to have died down and gone elsewhere. They moved quickly to Flourish and Blotts where they provided their list of books to the shop owner and then received them. Kevin decided to pick out some extra books based mostly around transfiguration and magical languages. After reading Harry’s book, Kevin fell in love with the ideas over transfiguration and the concepts it came with. Magical languages only felt right to him since he was already fluent in 5 languages; English, Spanish, French, Latin, and Japanese. Harry decided to pick up an extra book on magical creatures, hoping to read more about dragons, serpents, and other muggle legends. While in the bookstore, they decided to ask the owner why everyone was following them around and asking about Harry.

“Oh my goodness, I did not know that you were Harry Potter!” said the shopkeeper, “You are famous in the wizarding world. Your parents died protecting you from Voldemort and you somehow defeated him. You are revered as a hero and a legend.”

The friends looked at each other in shock, “Sir, I have no idea what you're talking about. Could you tell me more about my parents.” asked Harry quietly. The manager shook his head and explained to them that he did not know Lily or James personally. Leaving the shop in silence and in shock, the Schneiders and Harry quickly ran and picked up the rest of their supplies. Their last stop was at Eeylops Owl Emporium, Harry knew he could afford an owl or two but Kevin came along just to look. Kevin’s family didn’t have the opportunity to spend much money outside his scholarship and unfortunately, the scholarship didn’t cover pets. Harry picked out a snowy owl and saw Kevin look at one great horned owl. After going to the register he quietly explained to the shop owner that he wanted to buy both owls and paid. The shop manager followed Harry over to Kevin and explained to him that Harry had just bought the owl for him. Kevin looked at Harry in shock and tried to refuse the gift but Harry didn’t let him. “You and your family have done so much for me over the last few years Kevin.” Harry said, “Let me do this for you please.” 

The boys walked out of the shop together, with their owls in tow, to shocked but happy parents. They walked back to Ollivander’s to pick up the wands and profusely thanked the wandmaker before paying and leaving. After making a quick stop in Sugarplum's Sweet Shop for some candies, the boys returned to Gringotts to receive the results for the tests they took earlier that morning. Once they entered the building, they were stopped by goblin guards. “Mr. Potter and Mr. Schneider, you need to come with us. We have very important things to discuss with you both.” they said. Leaving Kevin’s parents in the lobby, the boys were whisked away to a backroom and greeted by none other than King Ragnuk the Ninth. The friends bowed and walked up to the King thinking about what was happening.

“I understand you might be confused younglings, please sit and let me explain.” said the King as they both sat in the very luxurious chairs that were provided, “Your results from your heir tests were quite… astounding, let’s say. Mr. Potter we shall start with you first, do you want to continue this in private?”

“It is fine, your highness. I trust Kevin,” responded Harry.

“Alright youngling, please read this parchment.” said the King. Harry’s eyes bulged once he started.

GRINGOTTS MAGICAL BANK

King Ragnuk the Ninth

Nation of Gringotts

Mr. Potter’s Heir Test,

Mr. Potter is the heir to the following magical families:

Potter

Peverell

Slytherin

Lord Potter is to be emancipated immediately and to come into the wealth and power of the 3 wizarding families he is heir to.

GRINGOTTS MAGICAL BANK

The boys stared in shock at the parchment and looked up at the goblin king as he laughed at their response. “My boys, that is just the half of it. Here, Mr. Schneider.” he exclaims happily, “These are your results.” 

GRINGOTTS MAGICAL BANK

King Ragnuk the Ninth

Nation of Gringotts

Mr. Schneider’s Heir Test,

Mr. Schneider is the heir to the following magical families:

Schneider

Decker

Fawley

Ravenclaw

Lord Schneider is to be emancipated immediately and to come into the wealth and power of the 4 wizarding families he is heir to.

GRINGOTTS MAGICAL BANK

Harry and Kevin looked at each other and they were both thinking the same thing, ‘What does this mean?’


	4. Inheritance

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling. 

I want to apologize about another shorter chapter. It already has a lot going on and I think this length makes it a little easier to digest. Because of this, I’ll post another chapter today. I’m going to try to keep up a schedule of posting every Monday and Friday. Hopefully you all enjoy the next 2 chapters.

And, as always, thanks for reading - KingCheetah19

**Chapter 4:**

Harry and Kevin looked at each other and they were both thinking the same thing, ‘What does this mean?’

“Well, Lord Potter and Lord Schneider,” said the goblin as he bowed to them, “I know this is a lot to take in but I also have the results of your medical test. Normally, this much information isn’t given but you two seem to be exceptions.” He handed them another parchment and they both looked at it, trying to process everything in their heads. 

GRINGOTTS MAGICAL BANK

King Ragnuk the Ninth

Nation of Gringotts

Lord Potter’s Health Test,

Lord Potter is in need of more nutrition. A list of necessary calories and dietary requirements will be provided on the next page.

Lord Potter has four magical tethers in his system. Please see the healers to rectify this situation.

  1. Magical Inhibitor
  2. Animagus Inhibitor
  3. Legilimency Inhibitor
  4. Occlumency Inhibitor



Lord Potter does not have any potions influencing his behavior and/or magic.

GRINGOTTS MAGICAL BANK

After reading Harry’s results, they both turn to look at Kevin’s.

GRINGOTTS MAGICAL BANK

King Ragnuk the Ninth

Nation of Gringotts

Lord Schneider’s Health Test,

Lord Schneider is in good health but could do with more exercise. Please consider adopting one of the workout regimes discussed in the next page.

Lord Schneider has four magical tethers in his system. Please see the healers to rectify this situation.

  1. Magical Inhibitor
  2. Animagus Inhibitor
  3. Intellect Inhibitor
  4. Occlumency Inhibitor



Lord Schneider does not have any potions influencing his behavior and/or magic.

GRINGOTTS MAGICAL BANK

“Please come with me, I will bring you to the healers to remove the magical tethers.” says King Ragnuk once they snap out of their daze. They spend an hour with the healer and then they are released to go home. King Ragnuk bows to them again stating, “You are both friends to Gringotts and the goblin nation. We protect our friends with power few dare to challenge. Let the nation know if we can help you.” said the king as he walked over to pull out two long and narrow boxes. 

“Here Lord Potter, put on these rings.” said the king as he hands Harry one of the boxes. As if he was guided by pure instincts, Harry slides the Potter ring over his right hand ring finger and is greeted with a small tingle. Next he places his Peverell ring on his right middle finger and a wave of dark energy encompases his body. Taking the last ring out of the box, the Slytherin ring, placing it on his left middle finger and a dim green light emits from his ring. 

“Lord Potter, the Potter family ring grants you access to all of the Potter family vaults and properties, the Peverell Ring does similarly, as does the Slytherin ring but uniquely, the Slytherin ring grants you access to a special room within Hogwarts. Use your titles well lad. Now please,” the goblin explains as he turns to Kevin, “It is your turn. Place your rings in a similar fashion.” Kevin immediately places the Schneider ring on his right hand ring finger and is greeted with a similar small tingle. Next he places his Fawley ring on his right middle finger and a wave of neutral energy encompases his body. After that he placed the Decker ring on his right pointer finger, and was greeted with only a slight buzzing sound. With the last ring, the Ravenclaw ring, placing it on his left middle finger and a dim blue light emits from his ring.

“Alright Lord Potter and Lord Schneider, please follow me and pick up these parchments with information on your assets.” Ragnuk says, leading them out of the room. 

“This is the entrance you will use from now on when you come to Gringotts. It is reserved for friends of the nation. At the moment, there are only 5 people who are considered friends to the nation which includes you both. Goodluck with your first year at Hogwarts lads, let Gringotts know if you need anything from us!” says King Ragnuk as he bowed to the boys and walked off. Kevin and Harry turn towards Kevin’s parents in shock and they rush home.

Once they arrive back at Kevin’s house, they inform his parents on their emancipation and lordship. No one really understands the implications that lordship means in the wizarding world but they decide to overlook that problem and focus on the parchment they received from the goblins.

GRINGOTTS MAGICAL BANK

King Ragnuk the Ninth

Nation of Gringotts

Lord Schneider’s assets and wealth,

Lord Schneider owns the following properties:

Schneider Estate, Schneider Isle, Schneider Lakes, The Manor

Ravenclaw Castle, Rowena’s Cottage

Fawley Manor

Decker Mansion

Lord Schneider’s net worth is calculated below:

£ 180,000,000 / G 36,000,000

10% of Lord Schneider’s wealth is held in stocks and bonds

GRINGOTTS MAGICAL BANK

Harry could have sworn he heard their jaws drop over the amount of money Kevin had inherited. “180 million pounds Kevin! 180. Million. P-pounds!?” his dad said, “Why didn’t I know about this? Not that I am upset at this but why didn’t I inherit anything?”

“Dad, I think that the inheritance states that it has to go to a magical heir. Since I am the only magical descendant of the Schneiders, the money went to me. It must have skipped a couple generations.” Kevin replies.

Harry decides to read his own parchment next.

GRINGOTTS MAGICAL BANK

King Ragnuk the Ninth

Nation of Gringotts

Lord Potter’s assets and wealth,

Lord Potter owns the following properties:

Potter Manor, Potter Hollow, The Field, Potter Lake

Slytherin Cave, Salazar’s Palace

Peverell Estate

Lord Potter’s net worth is calculated below:

£ 493,000,000 / G 98,600,000

8% of Lord Potter’s wealth is held in stocks and bonds

GRINGOTTS MAGICAL BANK

Harry reads his parchment and is in even more disbelief. ‘This changes everything’ he thought.


	5. Summer Homework

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling. 

And, as always, thanks for reading - KingCheetah19

**Chapter 5:**

‘This changes everything’ Harry thought.

Over the next week, Harry helped Kevin walk through all of his properties and evaluate his assets in his vaults. They found out that the Schneiders were a rich and powerful wizarding family for a long time in Germany. The line died out when the family’s last daughter only had 2 squib children. The squibs continued on for generations until one, Kevin’s father, had a child with another squib, Kevin’s mother. The resulting mix of recessive genes gave Kevin the ability to do magic and was the first heir to the Schneider’s fortunes and properties in over three centuries. 

Strangely, Kevin found a hidden room within his vault that contained a locked box. THe goblins that were there to assist them didn’t have a key for him and it seemed like there was no way to open it otherwise. If Harry tried so much as to touch the box, it would heat up to the point that the box felt like it was burning. The only person that could even touch the box was Kevin but even then he didn’t know what to do. 

Kevin’s intelligence only increased over the week and he learned that he had some sort of magical photographic memory and learned basic Gobbledegook, the language of the goblins, in just a couple days. Since both boys were emancipated, it allowed them to practice magic at home and they progressed through the first year spells by the end of the week, to the dismay of Kevin’s parents.

The family would ask what Harry wanted to do now that he didn’t have to ever go back to the Dursleys but Harry felt better about exploring Kevin’s past rather than opening up the wounds of his own. Because of this, the boys spent a considerable time at Gringotts learning about Kevin’s family and exploring his vaults. They even tried Alohomora, the unlocking charm, on the magical box in the vault but it didn’t so much as budge. 

After the week was over, they realized that their school year would be starting up in a couple weeks so they went back to studying and preparing for Hogwarts. Although the boys were ahead of their classes, already done with their textbooks, they wanted to understand the magical world more. No matter how much magic they did at home and how much they could learn in the next few weeks, they would be sorely behind pureblood and half-blood wizards and witches when it came to understanding and dealing with magic. 

While Harry excelled at magical practice and had very good control over the spells that he learned, he never could really read through an entire textbook the way Kevin could. That is what made the pair so incredibly powerful and unique, while Harry was far better in terms of practical magical abilities, Kevin outshined everyone in terms of studies and comprehension of magic.

It was during this next week that Kevin stumbled upon something very interesting in one of the many books he bought.  _ Heroes of the Magical World _ talked about the many wizards that helped shape magical society in the way it was seen. Kevin saw the book as a way to understand what many of the other students would already know and Harry wanted to learn potential spells the powerful wizards and witches may have used to be successful. While reading the last chapter about the heroes in the war against Voldemort, Kevin stumbled upon someone he didn’t expect.

“Harry! Come over here quickly, look at what this says!” he yelled to his friend on the other side of the room, who was practicing the levitating spell. Jumping at the sudden noise, Harry quickly walked over to Kevin and his book.

**_Chapter 54: 1980s and beyond_ **

_ Most wizards and witches understand the impact that Albus Dumbledore had on saving the wizarding world from He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, however he did not do this alone. While it is unknown who exactly worked alongside Dumbledore, some were identified. Lily and James Potter were 2 of the many wizards that helped resist the Dark Lord. This unfortunately led to their untimely demise on All Hallows’ Eve in 1981, when Sirius Black betrayed them to He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. The Dark Lord raided their house and killed them both before turning to their child, Harry. Harry somehow survived the killing curse, and proceeded to defeat his attacker that night. It is unknown how Harry survived and how he vanquished the Dark Lord, however, all of us should know that this new era of peace in wizarding Britain was caused by the sacrifices made by James, Lily, and their son Harry. Harry still carries a scar to this day, shaped in the same way as the wand movement of Avada Kedavra. A reminder of what he has lost in the pursuit of what Albus Dumbledore would say was the ‘greater good.’ _

_ In the following weeks… _

Kevin watched as his friend read what this book said about him and saw how his face changed from anger, regret, sorrow, and back to anger. Of course, Kevin could never understand what it was like to lose his parents so young and never have grown up knowing you were loved but not knowing the real cause of his parents’ deaths must have been heartbreaking. Pulling his friend into a rare hug, Kevin listened as his usually strong and emotionless friend broke and cried in his arms.

After ten minutes passed, Kevin pulled back enough to look at Harry in the eyes and told him that he would be here for his friend through this hard time. They both sat down and looked at catalogs of books from various shops across Europe and bought all the ones that even suggested anything to do with Harry. When they arrived the next day they tore them apart reading for anything that could tell them anything more than what they already knew. Most of the books were rubbish and were complete lies about Harry’s upbringing. 

“Look Harry, apparently you defeated a dragon and saved a princess when you were 8.” said Kevin as he slammed his book shut. 

“No mate, I’m a time traveling wizard who has traveled the cosmos in search of anyone powerful enough to stop me.” said Harry as he burned another book.

The search was getting more and more frustrating and the two decided to take a break at looking through the books and decided to go get something to eat. Ever since the boys had gotten back from their first visit to Gringotts, the two used magic liberally in the house. It got to the point that Kevin’s parents felt useless and inferior so they banned the use of magic in every room except for their bedrooms. So they came down to lunch and talked to Kevin’s parents about what they had learned the past few days. Of course, they were all surprised to hear that Harry was basically a celebrity in the wizarding world but the family was starting to get used to surprises by then. 

After lunch, Kevin and Harry decided to call it quits on the Harry Potter books and instead focused on their respective interests. Kevin was working on, as he had started the week prior, learning about transfiguration and magical languages. At this point he was fluent in Gobbledegook and learned Mandarin and Swedish. His new goal was Mermish but this was annoying Harry as the language was a lot of screeches and screams above water. To deal with this, Kevin started to look at self transfiguration so he could learn it underwater and was deeply invested in learning the biology of amphibians. 

Harry set his sights to Expelliarmus, a spell that allowed the user to remove the wand of another wizard. Harry now knew he would be a celebrity and wanted to learn how to defend himself if someone wanted to attack him. He was quite interested in magical creatures, especially magical reptiles, but decided that his priority should be defending himself.

This is when Kevin discovered animagus and decided to try to complete the process himself. He obtained mandrake leaves for his potion class so he started the long process of becoming an animagus by putting one underneath his tongue on the night of a full moon. He convinced Harry to do the same since they both had this skill tethered on their health report so it could be seen as a skill that they could learn as to both defend themselves and grow as wizards. Unfortunately, they had to wait a month for the process to finish so they would be in Hogwarts when they would be transforming. They knew it was against the rules to become unregistered animagi, especially so young, but they also knew that protecting themselves was sometimes worth breaking the rules

The days before setting off to King’s Crossing, Harry helped teach Kevin the spells he learned and had mini duels in the forest behind Kevin’s house. It was fun and exciting to both wizards and they learned more than most first years would ever be expected to know in the first weeks of learning about the wizarding world. 

Finally, the day came where they would be heading to Hogwarts. They arrived at King’s Crossing and made it to Platform 9 ¾ relatively quickly thanks to Kevin’s intense studying of  _ Hogwarts: A History _ . Saying goodbye to Kevin’s parents, the pair boarded the train early in order to escape the crowds that could approach Harry because of his fame.


	6. Hogwarts Express

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling. 

SURPRISE! You’re getting this chapter a day early in celebration. I have been dedicated to this fanfiction and I have been finding time to write, even when I have to work full time. Since you are getting this chapter early, I haven’t decided yet if I am going to upload another chapter tomorrow, or save it until Friday but I’m leaning towards uploading tomorrow. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

In other news, I decided to bite the bullet and purchase the audiobooks for the first 2 Harry Potter books and have been listening to them in my spare time. I’m glad to be getting some more background for the characters but I wanted to let you know that this development hasn’t changed any of my story plans. This is a fanfic, of course, so it is going to be heavily based off the books anyways, but my creative spin on everything will remain intact. 

And, as always, thanks for reading. Please comment/review this below. I would love to hear all your feedback. It helps me grow as a writer and I get to talk to my lovely readers. Thanks again! - KingCheetah19

**Chapter 6:**

Saying goodbye to Kevin’s parents, Harry and Kevin boarded the train. 

They took seats in an empty cart far back in the train hoping that they wouldn’t be disturbed. Kevin pulled out his copy of  _ Hogwarts: A History _ and started reading through it again, explaining to Harry the different houses and their importance to the school.

“I expect I will be in Ravenclaw,” Kevin said to his best friend. “I’m, after all, the heir to the Ravenclaw line and I have been called a nerd for most of my life. I value intellect above most things but I can see that I could be sorted into any of the other houses.”

“I dunno Kevin.” Harry said back to his friend, “I’ve been thinking you’d be Hufflepuff. Sure, you are the smartest kid I know and it isn’t even close, but you have been a loyal friend of mine since we met.”

“I know Harry, and my second guess would be Hufflepuff. For you, however, I do not see the Slytherin in you very often. Sure you are ambitious, but you also have your courage. You constantly stuck up for me to Dudley,” explained Kevin, “I think you’re Gryffindor, which is probably for the best. All the evil wizards are in Slytherin.” 

The two friends chat away about all the different houses and the benefits of being in them and before long, it is close to the time that the train was scheduled to depart. They were noticing people passing their cart but no one opened their door. That was, until a frizzy headed girl looked at them through the door’s window. “Hello there,” the young girl said, “I was wondering if I could sit with you. I noticed you have that book next to you. Have you read it? It is quite fascinating isn’t it?” Glancing between themselves and the girl, they invite her in and include her into the conversation about Hogwarts. It is obvious to them that she is a muggleborn, just like Kevin, and had the same curiosity and excitement about the wizarding world as they did. 

“I’m sorry, we’ve been talking and I don’t even know your names,” she interrupted, “I’m Hermione Granger, and you both are.”

“Kevin Schneider,” he said as he looked to Harry for permission. A single shallow nod signaled the go ahead and he continued, “and he is Harry Potter, my best friend.” 

A small gasp escaped Hermione but she collected herself, “Oh! I’ve read much about you but you really don’t seem anything like the person described in those books…”

Harry interrupted, “Those books you’re talking about are all fake. My life has not been lived in some fancy palace far away from everyone.” Kevin sighed, understanding the frustration Harry was feeling. “I’m not this Boy-Who-Lived character that these authors like to write fiction about. Please just get to know me as Harry.” he finished with sincerity. 

The boys looked over at the girl who agreed and ranted about how the authors should be sued for libel and they breathed sighs of relief. They continued their conversation as normal until another boy appeared at their door. 

“H-Hi there, can I sit here?” said the stranger, “I was hoping to meet a couple people before we went to Hogwarts.”

“Sure,” said Hermione quickly. Harry looked at her in shock but quickly composed himself and invited the boy in. The four fell into comfortable conversations debating the houses they would be sorted into, their lives before Hogwarts, and their goals for the next year.

They quickly learned that the boy’s name was Neville and he was a pureblood. Kevin was slightly nervous when he learned about that but then he relaxed as he learned more about Neville’s personality. He could see that Neville was very nervous and anxious but deep below he could see glimpses of the personality hidden behind the nerves. Kevin was hoping that all of them would be sorted into the same house but knew that the likelihood of that happening was 1/256. He kept talking to Hermoine and found that their ideals were very similar and fell into a rhythm of challenging each other’s minds.

Soon the four new friends changed into their robes and prepared to arrive at Hogwarts. As Neville finished changing, his toad escaped from his carrier and he practically begged his new friends to help him find it. They searched the train in groups of 2, Neville with Harry and Hermione with Kevin. Eventually, they met back up when both groups had no luck at finding the missing pet. They talked for a while about their experiences. Apparently, Neville and Harry met someone called Malfoy. The brat told him not to associate with muggleborns like Kevin and Hermione but Harry put him in his place when he told him that he would rather not associate with Malfoy. Kevin and Hermione recalled their time with a rude red headed boy who kept insulting Neville for losing the toad to begin with. Kevin thought he heard the boy calling them know-it-alls as they left but didn’t know for certain.

The group then talked about ideas on how to get Trevor, Neville’s toad’s name, back. Kevin came up with the great idea to just summon the toad but was met with stares from his friends. Standing in the hallway, Kevin called, “Accio, Trevor's collar.” accentuating it with short precise wand movements. Kevin knew that he couldn’t summon living things but instead summoned the collar that the toad was wearing so that the toad was summoned alongside it.

They all watched in shock as Neville’s toad shot over into his hand. “Kevin! That was a 4th year spell and even then not many of them can do it!” exclaimed Hermione, “When did you learn that level of magic, I thought you were muggleborn.”

“Harry and I were emancipated this summer,” Kevin tried to explain. Harry knew his best friend and he looked afraid about being called a nerd again.

“That’s awesome Kevin! You need to teach me!” called Neville, “That would help me not lose Trevor again.” As Neville said this, Kevin notably relaxed and they went back to their cart. 

Their conversation bounced back and forth from Kevin and Harry telling them all about the spells they’ve learned. They originally planned to learn some first year spells but they guess that they got carried away because Neville claimed that they learned enough spells to pass their OWLs. 

Soon they arrived at Hogwarts and were put into a boat together and were pulled across by a mysterious force underneath the boat. Hagrid, the groundskeeper at Hogwarts, wasn’t able to use magic so it couldn’t be magical. Harry theorized it was the giant squid that lied under the black lake and his theory only had more credit when a young red headed boy fell off his boat and a tentacle placed him back.

The four friends tuned out Hagrid’s monologue as they admired the sheer size of the Hogwarts castle. It was obvious that the group were all relatively new to magic, except Neville but he was still nervous about Hogwarts. They chatted amongst themselves as they walked into the corridor before the great hall and waited for McGonagall to pull out the sorting hat. The friends made their final predictions for which house they would be sorted into. Neville claimed he would be Hufflepuff, Harry thought that he was Slytherin, Hermione thought she would be Ravenclaw, and Kevin thought that he would also be Ravenclaw. 

They were all quietly talking when the Sorting Hat sang its song and missed that part of the ceremony. McGonagall cut over their conversation and exclaimed over the crowd of first years, “Okay when I call your name, please come up here. I will place the Sorting Hat on your head and you will begin your sorting. First we have Abbott, Hannah…”

The first few students got sorted fairly quickly with many going to Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Eventually, after around 15 students, the four friends heard “Granger, Hermione” and smiled at her before she stood and walked up to the hat.


	7. The Sorting Ceremony

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling. 

Here is the chapter for today! Also this chapter is a long one, I couldn’t decide where to split it so I kept it together. I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for reading - KingCheetah19

**Chapter 7:**

Kevin, Harry, Neville and Hermione heard “Granger, Hermione” and smiled at her before she stood and walked up to the hat.

Once she sat down, McGonagall placed the old hat upon her frizzy hair. A bright yellow glow was emitted from the hat causing the Hogwarts students to start commenting. The Sorting Hat exclaimed, “Ah! The true heiress to Hufflepuff has arrived at the school! Now, although you are the heir to Hufflepuff that doesn’t mean that you have to be sorted there. Let’s begin your process.”

Kevin noticed the look of shock Hermione had at hearing of her ancestry, he concluded that she didn’t take the heir test at Gringotts. After 5 minutes the hat still didn’t have any house to put her in and another murmur started in the crowd. “It must be a Hatstall,” whispered Kevin to Harry, “It’s when a person shows equal characteristics to multiple different houses. It is exceedingly rare and only happens once in about 50 years. The last Hatstall was a person in Gryffindor house if I remember correctly, Pettigrew I think.”

After another 30 seconds the hat called out, “I see much potential in you Heiress Hufflepuff, RAVENCLAW!!!” which caused an uproar from the table and Hermione smiled at her new friends before heading over to her new house.

After another student, Neville was called up and a similar red glow appeared. This shocked everyone, including the Hogwarts professors who started talking amongst themselves. “Oh my! The true heir to Gryffindor has arrived at the school as well?! Now, similarly to Heiress Hufflepuff, although you are the heir to Gryffindor that doesn’t mean that you have to be sorted there. Let’s begin your process now.” exclaimed the hat.

Another 5 minutes passed and another wave of whispers spread across the crowd. “One Hatstall is rare enough, there has never been 2 Hatstalls in the same decade before, let alone the same year. I think Neville will surprise us all with where he is placed.” said Kevin quietly. Harry agreed, seeing similar shadows of Neville’s true personality underneath all the nerves.

Neville’s Hatstall didn’t last as long as Hermione’s but was no less shocking. “Heir Longbottom, once you start believing in yourself, you will do great things. It fits that you belong in no other house than GRYFFINDOR!!!” There were waves of celebration at the Lion’s table as Neville was welcomed into the house although people were hesitant about his personality before.

More people went with notable applause for Malfoy who was sorted into the Slytherin house almost immediately. Apparently it was rare to immediately be sorted into a house although not as rare as a Hatstall. Kevin and Harry were sitting preparing for the inevitable murmurs to be held when Harry was called up. 

“Potter, Harry” McGonagall announced as evenly as the other names that she called but you could tell in her eyes she was surprised. With a last one armed side hug, Harry walked forward during the whispers heard around the great hall. Dumbledore lowered his head in acknowledgement at Harry as the Sorting Hat was placed upon his head. A bright green glow burst out of the hat to the astonishment of everyone.

“Truly remarkable! Emancipated at so young, I expect nothing less than the heir to Slytherin. I will give you this speech again, although I know that you have heard it twice before when you were watching your friends but we must decide your house based on your personality not your heritage, now let’s begin Lord Potter.” the hat said as it concentrated harder than it had before. Apparently, hatstalls were common in the Founders’ heirs because it took 7 minutes for the house to determine Harry’s house.

“Now Lord Potter, you would make an incredible addition to any house here and you show that you could identify with any of them.” the hat said as the hall was silenced. Slytherin were especially hopeful that the famous Boy-Who-Lived would become one of their new students and the first year Malfoy looked especially smug. The hat went on to continue, “I think your friends are correct when they say you belong in GRYFFINDOR!!!” A ear piercing roar cried out from the Gryffindor table as Neville literally jumped out of his seat to greet his friend at the table. Harry looked back at Kevin, nodded to him in appreciation, and smiled. The students at the table were all clambering to talk to the famous young wizard but, surprisingly, Neville made it clear to calm down and let Harry have his space. 

Kevin sat in anticipation alone in the back of the great hall before his name was called. Surprisingly, some students started whispering as he walked up to the table, he would be sure to ask Dumbledore what that was about when he got back. He sat in the chair and wasn’t surprised when a dark blue glow spread across the great hall. “Simply incredible! Absolutely magnificent! All 4 of the Founders’ heirs in the same class! And, just like your friend you are emancipated! Let’s keep this short, you're not in Ravenclaw automatically because of your ancestry. Now let’s get started.”

‘My, my,’ Kevin heard in his head, ‘Just like the others this will be a hard decision.’

‘Please, just put me in a house I belong to. I have had such a hard time getting along with my fellow classmates. I just want some friends. I love Harry like a brother, but I can’t go my whole life with one friend.’ Kevin thought back, hoping the hat could hear him.

‘Don’t worry, we will find the house for you, Lord Schneider. Now let’s start with the house I see the least in you, Slytherin. Although you are ambitious, I just don’t see as much of that in you as the other houses.’

‘I agree, I have huge goals and I will do anything I can to accomplish them but I will not compromise my other morals to do so. My friendships and my ideals come much before my ambitions so Slytherin should be ruled out.’

‘Ah lad, I haven’t had such a good conversation since being created with Rowena. I’m going to enjoy our debates on the next two houses. Let’s talk some more about Gryffindor, that is the house that your best friend ended up in.’

‘I guess I see myself in this house the least, could you explain to me why you ranked this over Slytherin?’

‘Of course, you’ve been through a lot of tough times but you continue to persevere. You haven’t been put in the best situation financially but you have worked hard enough to continue your education at the one of the best wizarding schools in all of Europe. You have the courage to stand up to bullies for your friend and you are chivalrous to a fault.’

‘Of course, I see the resemblance now but I still think I hold other things with more value.’

‘I agree young one, I agree. Now let’s talk about Hufflepuff. You’ve gone your whole life loyal to a point with Harry. You’ve been his friend through it all and still, you plan to have him in your life forever. I see your dreams and goals young heir, why do you believe you are not Hufflepuff.’

‘I know I will be there for Harry no matter what. Through everything, he deserves a constant friend and I want to be that for him. However, throughout my life I have held my education as my first priority. Although I have been ridiculed for my intellect, I still feel like my curiosity is my best trait and I stand by that.”

‘Alas, Ravenclaw. I agree this is the house I see most in you my friend and you will do great things. I must give you one last piece of advice before I announce your house. You haven’t grown up in the wizarding world and neither has Harry so you do not know of the famous prophecy yet. You see, most wizards know about a prophecy about the founders of Hogwarts that you and your friends should know. Heir Gryffindor knows about it since he is a pureblood but Lord Potter and Heiress Hufflepuff are equally unaware. The prophecy foretold the time that the 4 founders’ heirs would meet and come together to be even more successful than their ancestors. I understand that this is a lot of pressure on you and your friends but you will get through this together. Stand by their sides and you will thrive Lord Schneider. Thank you for this amazing debate, like I said earlier you are very much like Rowena.’

With that, the sorting hat finally spoke aloud, “The last founder’s heir has some huge shoes to fill. Although this may cause some stress, I know that Lord Schneider can accomplish anything... especially in the hands of RAVENCLAW!!!” 

A huge cry erupted in the great hall as Kevin sat down next to Hermione who hugged him tightly. She told him that it took almost 10 minutes for the hat to decide his house and the hall was starting to loudly whisper about some prophecy. Kevin told Hermione that he will tell her about it later when they can meet with Harry and Neville. He looked at his friend in a new light and decided then and there that he would always be there for her, along with Harry and Neville. 

The last few names were sorted with most of the hall gasping as the same red haired boy who fell out of boat on the way to Hogwarts, Ronald Weasley, was sorted into Slytherin. Kevin didn’t really understand the shock but decided he would ask Neville about it later since Neville seemed to have at least a little bit of knowledge of wizarding culture.

Kevin and Hermione looked at each other and then at Harry and Neville, smiling at one another as they all silently agreed to meet up as soon as they could. After the sorting ceremony ended, Kevin enjoyed the feast and talked to some of the other Ravenclaws. He started to get the idea that he would become a figure in the house when all the first years and some of the other older wizards and witches started looking at him like he was some sort of museum display. He hoped that it wouldn’t be like muggle school where he was ridiculed for so long.

After the feast, like most of the first years, Kevin was led into the Ravenclaw common room. He looked around at the open layout of the room and the books that lined the shelves at the far end. He smiled to himself and Hermione as he thought about the endless possibilities he had in the so-called ‘House of the Wise.’ He started following the other boys up the stairs to the Ravenclaw dormitories but was stopped by one of the prefects. 

“Sorry but since you are emancipated you get to have special quarters Lord Schneider. I know this might not be what you want but it is required. Please follow me.” said the older boy as he led Harry to a portrait on the wall within a gap between the bookshelves on the back door. “Now, your temporary password is ‘Schneider’ but you must change it once you get inside. Only tell the password to people you trust. There is one portrait here and one portrait next to the common room portrait outside. That way you can invite friends from other houses into your quarters. You can even enter and exit your quarters without ever going through the Ravenclaw common room. I think that is all, have a good night Lord Schneider.” the prefect stated before leaving him. 

Kevin looked at the painting and exclaimed, “Schneider.” He stared wide eyed around his quarters.


	8. Before School

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling. 

I think I am going to keep it in Kevin’s perspective in order to try to make things less complex and keep my original take on the Harry Potter world. After all, Kevin didn’t exist in the Harry Potter books. If you are wondering how I came up with Kevin, I based it off of myself and what I think I would be like in the wizarding world, similarly to JK Rowling’s creation of Hermione.

In other news, it took me so long to come up with the class schedules that are used for this year that I never want to look at one ever again. I had to create schedules for all 4 houses so I knew what classes would be with each other and I hated it. I will not be creating 4 working schedules when I write the next year of this. 

Thanks for reading - KingCheetah19

**Chapter 8:**

Kevin looked at the painting and exclaimed, “Schneider.” He stared wide eyed around his quarters. He immediately took in the small common room in front of him. It was furnished with many expensive furnitures and more books filled the many bookshelves. The windows in his room overlooked the greenhouses and in the distance he could see the forbidden forest. 

After his long day, he decided to skip exploring and instead decided to go to sleep. He was exhausted and a bed called to him. He opened a room and was greeted by a large bed in the middle of a small room. He laid down, closed his eyes, and drifted off almost immediately.

He woke up before the sun rose the next day and decided to explore his quarters more effectively. He exited his small bedroom and was greeted by his common room. Although it was much smaller than the Ravenclaw common room, he found it to be charming. It was a wide rectangle with high vaulted ceilings. On the left hand side there were 2 doors, one being the bedroom he stayed in last night. He opened the other door to find a small bathroom. Walking over to the other side the room blended into a kitchen and dining room. Kevin knew he didn’t know how to cook really well and decided to ask Harry for help in that regard after breakfast. He walked back out into the back of the common room and opened the sole door on the wall and was greeted to his own library. The previous owners had packed as much of it with their own books as they could but a good section still remained empty. Kevin smiled that his new books would have a place to sit and help future Ravenclaws. He explored the library and found a study located on the opposite side of the room. Walking back out of the library he walked down a hall located to the left of the dining room and kitchen on the same wall as the original painting he came in from. On the left side of the hall, he found another small bedroom and bathroom and at its end he found a copy of the painting that let him into the quarters to begin with. It was a painting of a young woman reading a book with her father. 

“Umm, I would like to change my password please.” said Kevin to the painting. He didn;t know the edicate wizards used when speaking to paintings and was hoping that he was doing it right.

The painting responded, “of course young one, what would you like to change it to?” the man asked as his daughter looked at him expectantly. 

“Phoenixes and thunderbirds are birds of a feather.” responded Kevin thinking back on Harry’s and his wand cores. 

“An interesting choice, Lord Schneider.” replied the daughter as she smiled, “I love it!” Kevin reminded himself to tell Hermione, Harry, and Neville the password after breakfast so that he could have them visit him. He had plenty of rooms and would love for them to stay over. He wondered what his other friends did last night while he walked back into his common room and trekked up the stairs next to the hallway he just explored. 

Once he made it up the stairs, he opened the only door in the hallway. He was greeted by a grand master bedroom. The room was large, almost as large as the library, and warm. Kevin fell in love with the room and was very grateful that he was living in his private quarters rather than the boys dorms. As much as he would appreciate the company, he didn’t want to deal with more stares and whispers. Connected to the bedroom is a luxurious bathroom. Kevin didn’t quite understand the necessity of all of the space. 

Making his way back down, he realized that it was starting to get close to the time for breakfast so he stepped out of his room and waited in the Ravenclaw common room for Hermione.

It didn’t take long for his friend to come down from the girl dorms and the two rapidly walked down to breakfast. They were followed by stares and whispers but, given the events of the previous evening, he didn’t really blame them. Hermione asked about the prophecy and Kevin told her what he knew. She looked at him in disbelief and he could see her starting to process the new information. They both agreed that after breakfast, they would talk to Harry and Neville about everything.

No sooner had they brought their other friends up in conversation, did the two boys enter into the great hall smiling and laughing. Kevin was glad to see that Harry was making a new friend, he was quite nervous about Harry’s ability to adjust to a new school but it looked like he would be fine.

Kevin and Hermione ate in a comfortable silence. Every now and then, one of their fellow Ravenclaws would ask them a question about themselves but Kevin had gotten good at not talking about himself so the questions deflected off him easily. Hermione seemed to enjoy the attention and was chatting to the other Ravenclaws once she finished her meal. 

The students were given the weekend to adjust to Hogwarts but, come Monday, they would start their classes. Kevin knew the basic structure of courses but he didn’t know what specific classes he would have. He hoped that Gryffindor and Ravenclaw shared multiple classes together so he could spend more time with Harry. He would get his schedule during dinner so his mind didn’t have to wonder for very much longer. 

After breakfast, Kevin directed Hermione away from the Ravenclaw table over to Harry and Neville. They decided to walk together to the library. Kevin told his other friends about the well known prophecy and let it sink in on the walk. All of them had more questions than Kevin had answers and he told them that he would be looking for answers in the library.

Once they reached the room, Kevin immediately began to summon books that he thought would have clues to their situation. While the prophecy’s exact words were unknown, Kevin found out that the Sorting Hat was almost exactly correct, the prophecy stated that the 4 founders of Hogwarts would have heirs that would be just as successful and powerful as they were. It claimed that the group of heirs would form unbreakable bonds of friendship and work together to ‘defy all expectations.’

Of course, with only the basic understanding of the prophecy, the group were still left confused. They decided to let destiny determine what it wanted and not go pursuing the completion of the prophecy because it would only make things worse.

Kevin and Hermione decided to summon more books to read and study, while Harry and Neville talked more about the wizarding world. Neville was doing his best trying to catch them all up on thousands of years of customs, traditions, and society but the muggleborn/raised wizards and witch were finding everything he said archaic.

Harry was taken aback when he found out about the blatant racism and sexism shown throughout wizarding culture and made a vow to himself to use his fame to help modernize the wizarding ways. He talked to Hermione and Kevin about his campaign but the four friends decided to wait to understand everything more. After all, three of the four of them had only just discovered the wizarding world.

After another couple hours in the library, Kevin was trying his best to teach Hermione all of the spells he learned over the last couple months. She was struggling to keep up as Kevin jumped around to random spells, before finally calling him out and telling him to focus on one and slowly teach her. They discovered a rhythm and before dinner, Hermione knew a couple first year spells and one from second year. Kevin felt proud of himself and his new found ability to teach because he did not have nearly as much success with Harry at home. 

The group decided to head back to the great hall for dinner and were excitingly chatting with each other about their schedules. They reached the hall and split into their houses and sat down eagerly awaiting their schedules. 

Kevin and Hermione, since Ravenclaw got their schedules first, looked over their parchments closely.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

House Head: Professor Filius Flitwick

(Charms Master, Hogwarts)

Lord Kevin Schneider’s Schedule:

Monday – Double Transfiguration

Tuesday – Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts

Wednesday – Magical Theory, Afternoon Off, Astronomy at Midnight

Thursday – Defense Against the Dark Arts, Potions

Friday – Charms, Potions

*Each class is 3 hours long, for double classes you will have a 15 minute break before the second half starts.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Glancing at Hermione’s schedule he saw she had the same classes as he did, which was expected since she was in his house. Kevin looked at Harry and Neville and saw them conversing about their schedules at the Gryffindor table. He smiled at them and thought to himself how this year was going to be quite busy but he wouldn’t have it any other way.


	9. First Day of Classes

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling. 

I was looking at the stats from this story and I am amazed at how many people have clicked on and viewed my little story. It will never cease to amaze me how many of you read my silly fanfics but I want you all to know that I appreciate each and every single one of you. Please comment and message me. I love hearing from you, whether it be about the story or just chatting. I would love to talk to you! 

Also quick update from last chapter, I changed the break between classes from 15 minutes to an hour long lunch.

Also also, I will be taking this Friday (and potentially Monday) off from publishing a chapter in order to get myself further ahead in writing. I have been barely keeping up recently but I am slowly developing the storyline. I just need a couple more days to figure out these first couple chapters in classes and then I will get ahead. Thanks for your understanding.

And, as always, thanks for reading - KingCheetah19

**Chapter 9:**

Kevin thought to himself how this year was going to be quite busy but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

The next day was spent relatively the same, exploring the castle, teaching Neville and Hermione spells, and comparing their new schedules. Harry shared some classes with Kevin, with his schedule being the following:

Monday - Charms, Potions

Tuesday: Magical Theory, Defense Against Dark Arts

Wednesday - Transfiguration, Afternoon Off, Astronomy At Midnight

Thursday - Transfiguration, Potions

Friday - Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts

While practicing their spells, the group set the goal of each of them attaining a corporeal patronus by Yule and Harry was making remarkable progress already being able to cause some white mist to form from his wand. 

Kevin had told his friends about his private quarters and learned that Harry had a similar situation because he too was emancipated. The four friends decided to make dinner in Kevin’s kitchen that day and all enjoyed each others’ company. Harry recognized the significance of Kevin’s password and helped explain it to their friends. Neville reminded them about just how rare the dual core is and even suggested that they were the only 2 in Britain to have such wands. Both Neville and Hermione each had wands that had dragon heartstrings as well. 

Once Hermione and Neville left, Harry decided to stay over and talk to Kevin in private. He commented on how close the next full moon would be and if Kevin had the ingredients for the completion of the Animagus Potion. Kevin told his best friend that he already had the potion ingredients ready for the last week and was just in the process of figuring out a place to put the potion where it wouldn’t be disturbed. He wasn’t sure about the process of brewing the potion either. They decided to put it deep in Kevin’s vault and they would go access it during the next lightning storm. The next week, after their classes and on the night of the full moon they agreed to meet at the astronomy tower so they could produce the potion. Kevin hoped that 2 weeks of beginner's potion brewing would be enough for him to feel confident in brewing the animagus potion.

After Harry left to go back to his quarters, Kevin went to sleep that night restless, he was starting classes the next day and didn’t know what to expect. He knew he was already many spells ahead of his classmates and felt like this fact would only further divide him from the other Ravenclaws. One first year, Cho Chang, was already starting to tease him for his intellect and devotion to reading during any time he was around the others. While she was a small minority, he was concerned that the teasing would only become more prominent. Pushing the thought from his mind, he fell into an uneasy slumber. 

The next morning Kevin stood up, showered and changed into his school robes. Transfiguration would be easy for him, he was already extremely far ahead in that class and he thought it was his favorite subject. He was not worried about any of the classes that required a wand. He knew he was already ahead of first year in those. Kevin was slightly worried about potions, He joined Hermione and together they walked into the great hall for breakfast. 

Once they arrived, Kevin was not surprised to not find Harry there. He knew that Harry liked sleeping in later than he did. Instead of looking for his best friend, he decided to discuss transfiguration with Hermione. Unsurprisingly, she was new to the subject and they decided to work together in class. Kevin knew that she would be ahead of everyone else in the class by the end of the week so it was best for him to work with the closest person to his skill level. 

When Kevin was finishing his breakfast, he smiled at Harry as he walked in. His best friend smiled and waved at him then seated himself at the Gryffindor table. Kevin decided to walk up to him before leaving the hall.

“Ready for the first day of classes Harry?” Kevin asked, already knowing the answer.

“Of course I am. You’ve only worked me into the ground this summer on spells. I have a feeling we are both going to be surprised just how far ahead of everyone else we are.”

“Oh I know we are both ahead but we can always get better Harry,” Kevin responded while laughing, “I can get better at defense. You always kick my butt in that subject.”

Harry laughed, “Kevin that is the only subject that I am better at than you, I’m more interested in that aspect of magic so I have only been studying offensive and defensive spells. You study literally everything else. Aren’t you already fluent in Gobbledegook and Mermish?” he finished loudly so most of the great hall could hear. 

Kevin blushed, he didn’t like being the center of attention. He quietly answered in the affirmative, hugged Harry, and walked off to walk with Hermione to transfiguration. 

Once they arrived at the class, he took a seat next to Hermione and waited for it to begin. Kevin sighed as he saw that his first class was with the Slytherins. He heard about the Malfoy brat from Harry and he hoped that Malfoy would leave him alone during class. 

McGonagall introduced herself to the class and they all took a knowledge test. Kevin knew that he would pass the test with flying colors and turned it in very quickly. McGonagall collected all the tests together and then proceeded to introduce the class to the basics of transfiguration. Kevin assumed that this class period would be devoted to the theory of the magic and the next would be more towards practical application. Luckily, this teaching style didn’t allow the Slytherins to really disturb the class so Kevin was thankful. The lunch break in between the periods would give Professor McGonagall just enough time to magically grade the tests and hand them back to the Ravenclaws afterwards.

3 very dry hours later, Kevin was talking to Hermione on break. The Slytherins had left for their next class and the next period they would be joined by Hufflepuff. Kevin was confused since the different houses would be at different parts of class but McGonagall promised the class that everyone would catch up after the first week. The first week made the classes a little weird but after, everyone would be at the same point when they were classes together. Hermione, of course, was thrilled with how the first class went but Kevin had already read and understood everything the professor talked about. He hoped that the next part of class would be much better. His lunch went by too fast for his liking and he was sitting back at his desk. 

McGonagall passed back the tests to the Ravenclaws and told everyone that if they had over a 70% to go see her after class. Kevin, had received a 99% making a silly error on a question about Avifors Spell. Hermione, on the other hand, had received a 81% and was beaming. Not trying to show up his friend, Kevin quickly put away his test and retrieved the necessary materials for the next part of class, a match for himself and one for Hermione. Once he returned to his seat he decided to wait until the end of class to perform his transfiguration so he busied himself with looking around the room. Many things in the classroom would confuse a muggleborn like himself but Kevin had read many books before coming to Hogwarts so he understood most of it. McGonagall was on the other side of the classroom, passing out the pretests to the Hufflepuffs. Kevin assumed that once she had finished that she would come assist the Ravenclaws with their work.

After only a half hour through the second part of the double transfiguration, McGonagall came up to him and asked what he was doing and why he wasn’t working. “I’m sorry professor but I got a lot of magical work in over the summer and I can already do it,” Kevin said sheepishly, “I just wanted to wait until the end of class so I didn’t seem like a show off.”

“Mr. Schneider, please perform the spell for me so I can determine your proficiency.” the professor replied. Kevin did what he was told and quickly turned the match into a perfect needle. “Mr. Schneider!” McGonagall gasped, “I’m sorry to have doubted you. How far are you through the course book.”

Kevin sighed knowing he had the class’s full attention now because of McGonagall’s loud response. “I’ve already finished the textbook professor. I’ve read through it 3 times already and I’ve tried to perfect every spell in the book. I’m very far ahead with my transfigurations, and I’m working on Orchideous.” As he said that he performed the spell, instantly a small bouquet of flowers appeared in the air. “I understand that you can change the amount and types of flowers with magical intent but I haven’t gotten anything other than pink tulips.”

After completing most other first year spells, including turning a mouse into a snuff box, a wide eyed McGonagall tells him to meet her after class to discuss his studies. She turned and faced the rest of the class and told them to get back to work. Kevin could hear some conversations about himself from others in Ravenclaw but luckily Hermione didn’t push it and instead asked for his advice which he happily gave her.

Once the class was over, Hermione, 2 other Ravenclaw students, and himself waited patiently for the class to leave and approached the professor.


	10. Advanced Classes

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling. 

I want to apologize for the wait for this chapter’s release. I was already starting to fall behind in writing and taking a break from publishing helped me catch up. I hope to keep the Monday and Friday schedule going now but I may change it to have a more equal time between chapters, so maybe Monday/Thursday. I’m not sure yet.

And to the guest that left the lovely review on fanfic about my non-commitment to finish and research. I truly haven’t finished a story and I wanted to be open with that with the people that read this. I want to finish this fic, and I honestly believe that this story has the best chances of it happening. Now for the research, no I haven’t read the books, no I haven’t watched the movies, but I have made purchases to do so in both regards. I have spent a good amount of time researching spells, schedules, situations, characters, etc on the internet to make sure I am not messing too much with the source material. Overall this is my story, I’m sorry I didn’t meet your high standards. Maybe once I hit 100k words you’ll come back and give it a chance. Please, I love the constructive criticism and tell me what you don’t like but do not bash me in your reviews. I am a Harry Potter fan just like yourself and unfortunately I cannot please everyone with my story. 

Thanks again for reading - KingCheetah19

**Chapter 10:**

Once the class was over, Hermione, 2 other Ravenclaw students, and Kevin waited patiently for the class to leave and approached professor McGonagall.

“Ah you all scored over a 70% on your pretests yes?” said the professor, “Mr. Davidson and Ms. Austin, let me speak to you first.” She walked the other 2 Ravenclaw students to her desk and left Kevin and Hermione to wait patiently at their desks. 

15 minutes later she finished with the other students and walked Hermione and Kevin back to her desk. “Now I brought you 2 here alone to tell you that you both are prodigies at Transfiguration. Hermione, your score of an 81% is impressive and I had not had a higher score on the pretest before this year,” she started, “Now Kevin, your score is truly outstanding. Most students do not even achieve it on the final exam. I am more than willing to pull you both from this class and have you work on independent studies with me instead. You have already both received passing grades for the class and it would just bore you.”

Hermione looked at her shocked but quickly composed herself. Kevin smiled knowing that this was the only way he would truly learn anything this year. “Professor, thank you for your kind offer. Wouldn’t it push us away from our other classmates? They are already starting to resent me, I have overheard some conversations, wouldn’t this make it worse?” Kevin asked nervously. He knew he wanted to learn more but he didn’t want to repeat all of the problems he had before Hogwarts. He just had gotten friends, he didn’t want to close off the opportunities to make new ones.

“That’s a fair question, no I don’t think it would cut you off from making friends. I would put you into an independent group that is mostly made up of older students but they all value the same things that you do. All of them are advanced and I don’t think they are the students to get jealous of your talents.” McGonagall explained to the Ravenclaw duo, “I wouldn’t grade you based on these pretests, I will retest you again at the end of each semester and I doubt that you will get grades less than an O.”

“I want to try it. If we don’t like it can we get placed back in regular classes,” asked Hermione. McGonagall confirmed that they could and told the friends to go to dinner. While walking down Kevin talked to his friend about their new arrangements. Kevin realized that they now had Monday completely off and their free period on Wednesday was now Transfiguration. The Ravenclaw duo headed down to the great hall for dinner. After eating and chatting through dinner, Kevin and Hermione went to go greet their other friends.

It turns out that the potions teacher acted very arrogantly in their class and singled out Harry. Harry got all of his questions right of course, because Kevin made him study potions a week before heading off for school on the notion that ‘just because we can’t brew them doesn’t mean we shouldn’t learn the material!’ The group laughed at the Slytherin’s antics and decided to head off to bed early. The first day of classes took a lot of energy out of them.

Charms with the Slytherins went similarly the next day. It seemed like the first week of classes would be helping the students get adjusted to the magical world and school in general. While muggleborns had gone to primary school before attending Hogwarts, it was uncommon for magical students to attend any sort of classes before they turned 11. Some high standing families would procure private tutoring but for the most part wizards were surprisingly uneducated. This was proven throughout the charms class when most of the wizarding students were having difficulty keeping up with a slow lecture based class. For Hermione and Kevin, the class was extremely boring. At the end of class, they were both offered the chance to join the advanced charms class and quickly accepted the invitation. 

Defense with the Gryffindors went completely differently, Dumbledore himself made an appearance and decided to host a dueling tournament. After an hour of explaining the rules and some basic stunning spells, the students were thrown into the fire. The four friends completely obliterated all of their opponents and easily made it to the semi finals. The Gryffindor match between Neville and Harry was powerful. Kevin knew that Harry usually relied on his unmatched magical energy when they trained together but Neville’s competency in spells surprised him. The fact that his wand was a little hard to control and didn’t listen well to his commands almost worked out in his favor. It was clear that he had potential but after a couple minutes of sending powerful jinxes and spells at each other’s shields, Kevin saw that Harry had enough of holding himself back. He dodged a stunner, and exclaimed “ _ Levicorpus _ !” Neville couldn’t get his shield up fast enough to block the spell and was instantly raised into the air by his ankle. Quickly following with a fast  _ expelliarmus _ (Which Kevin knew was Harry’s signature spell after dueling him many times in the summer.), Neville was defeated. Dumbledore and Lupin, the defense professor, looked at him shocked, they obviously underestimated Harry.

After Harry received a huge amount of praise from both the professor and the headmaster, it was time for the Ravenclaw semi final between Hermione and Kevin. Kevin went into the battle confident, but did not underestimate his opponent. He knew that Hermione had already learned a vast number of curses and his opponent would definitely be more difficult to handle than Neville. They bowed to each other and then began their match. Hermione’s lack of experience was apparent when she started casting as many spells as she could mutter. Kevin threw up a  _ protego _ and decided to wait out the onslaught of attacks.  _ Protego _ was Kevin’s best spell, his could stand up to a lot of torment and even Harry had trouble breaking down his shield. After a minute of spells battering up against his shield, Kevin saw that Hermione had to catch her breath so he took his chance. Dropping his shield, he shot off an  _ avis _ disorienting Hermione with many large birds moving her direction. Seeing that her line of sight was blocked, Kevin moved to the edge of his dueling circle and sent an  _ aguamenti _ at the ground. Following his water spell, he cast  _ glacius _ freezing Hermione to the ground. Doing this allowed him to prevent her from dodging his stunner. Moving back to the center of the circle, he was met with an onslaught of hexs, all of which he deflected and dodged. A well placed  _ stupify _ ended the match. 

Kevin turned to meet a shocked crowd and received many of the same praise Harry did. Kevin swore he could even hear Dumbledore whispering “extraordinary!” under his breath many times. As the professors tended to Hermione, Kevin went over to Harry. “I guess we are the final two, you better not hold back on me like you did with Neville,” Kevin said to his best friend and smiled bright. His words didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the class which gasped when they heard that Harry held back. 

“Of course not Kevin!” said Harry, “As long as you don’t hold back either. Seriously,  _ aguamenti _ and  _ glacius _ ? I would have caught on to that the moment you cast the first spell.”

“Oh I know you would, but I knew Hermione wouldn’t. Plus I couldn’t let the opportunity slide to teach the other students about some strategy, I doubt they had even thought to use 2 spells together like that before.” said Kevin as he laughed. Harry’s response was typical, he could never be the only one to receive praise. If he was complemented in any way, he somehow found a way to include Kevin in his means of success. 

“Well class, we do not have time for the last duel. I have to say, I was expecting to see very little dueling experience but it seems that Mr. Schneider and Mr. Potter have dueled before. And by the conversation they just had, it seems that they have dueled each other. Now, next class, I want to watch your duel but after that you will both be moved up to the advanced defense class. As for Mr. Longbottom and Ms. Granger, you both show real promise but I want to keep you in this class for the time being.” said Lupin. 

The class looked at Harry and Kevin with a newly found sense of respect. Kevin was surprised, usually whenever Harry and he did well in a certain thing, they would both be ridiculed. Although they had not realized it at the time, they had both just cemented themselves as the leader of their houses. Harry’s duel showed that he possessed a magical power level that no one had ever seen before, while Kevin’s showed the amount of strategy and problem solving he had. Because they were already good friends, the combined efforts of the two would be enough to place themselves amongst the greatest wizards. The prophecy of the four founders was starting to unfold and show to everyone. Without a doubt, when the four heirs worked together, they would be unstoppable.


	11. Dueling Championship

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling. 

For those of you that have worried about not seeing Harry and Kevin duel, don’t. You will be seeing it in this chapter. And at long last, the final preparations for becoming animagi will be seen in this chapter. Sorry it is shorter than normal, it is an important chapter and I didn’t really want to fill it with, well, filler.

Thanks again for reading - KingCheetah19

**Chapter 11:**

“Well, we should try to enjoy our ball then,” Kevin said smiling. He turned back and focused on his food. A little more conversation was had but most of the excitement from the announcement had diminished and Kevin retired for an early evening. 

Over the weekend, Kevin met up with Harry late at night at the astronomy tower and finished the final preparations for becoming animagi. Unfortunately for the friends, there was no lightning storm that night so they could not complete the spell. Because of this, Kevin and Harry have to recite the spell  _ Amato Animo Animato Animagus _ every sunrise and sunset. When the next lightning storm occurs, the boys can finally drink the potion which completes the last step in becoming an animagus. The two best friends would have regular, private, conversations with each other on their best guesses on their animagus forms. Kevin honestly had no idea what form he thought his would be, and he didn’t know what he wanted it to be. Harry thought his would be a snake because he has had a connection with them for a long time. 

On Monday, Kevin excitedly went to his new advanced level charms class and found that he was further ahead than he thought. Hermione, of course, was there with him but she was able to learn more from the other advanced students. Kevin, on the other hand, found that he was above NEWT level in charms. Professor Flitwick decided to work more on his nonverbal spells since he seemed to have understood most of the charms curriculum. This abstract form of magic proved difficult but Kevin was very happy for a challenge.

The next day Kevin woke up in the morning, recited the animagus chant, and prepared. Today was to be the day he dueled with Harry. He showered and went down to breakfast where he was greeted by Hermione. They talked extensively about what was happening in defense class and Kevin was discussing a small part of his strategy with her. They finished their food and walked together to Professor Lupin’s class.

After a few minutes the class began. “Welcome,” exclaimed the professor, who seemed to be in a very cheerful mood, “Today will definitely be an exciting day! The duel between Lords Potter and Schneider will be commencing shortly. However, since it is rare to see such talent in first years, we invited the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs to join us as we watch and dissect the strategies of the young wizards.” As he said that the door opened and Professor Flitwick led in his charms class full of the other first years. As the classroom became crowded, Dumbledore and Flitwick performed an expansion charm and that helped make the students more comfortable.

“Now without further ado, Lords Potter and Schneider, please come forward,” said the headmaster with a twinkle in his eyes. “Please do not be nervous because of the new students that came in, it is my understanding that they specifically requested to watch the match. Just do your best and give us a good show now will you?” Dumbledore said to the boys quietly as he led them to the front of the classroom. The two best friends smiled, shook hands and walked to opposite sides of the room. They bowed and after a few tense seconds of build up, the match began.

Kevin knew that Harry wouldn’t expect him to start offensively so he sent a couple of spell chains at him hoping to catch him off guard and end the match quickly. He knew from experience that Harry’s magical core was much more vast than his own and if he was stuck in this duel for too long Kevin would feel the magical exhaustion long before Harry. Unfortunately for the ravenclaw, Harry batted away the spells like they were mere flies and sent his own offensive spells towards him. Kevin cast a wordless  _ protego _ and Harry’s powerful spells hit his shield but bounced off of it harmlessly. Harry tried casting as many spells as he could but unfortunately it did nothing, Kevin’s shield was just too strong. Resulting to a different tactic, Harry summoned a small trinket from behind Kevin and hit him in his back. Shocked, Kevin’s shield momentarily fell and Harry quickly cast a  _ levicorpus _ . 

Kevin felt the familiar weightlessness as he was lifted off the ground. Dumbledore made his way to stop the match but Kevin waved him back and began casting spells upside down. Harry was caught off guard and barely managed to dodge a binding hex before a strong stinger hit his upper arm. Hissing, he cast a spell to mitigate the discomfort as he ridiculed himself for underestimating his friend. By the time he did that Kevin had broken himself out of the  _ levicorpus _ and had cast an  _ aguamenti  _ on the ground, much like he did against Hermione. Knowing the combination of spells that incopacitated his friend, Harry quickly cast a drying charm. Suddenly he was on the defensive as Kevin threw many hexes and spells his way to disrupt him.

The rest of the class was astonished, here were first years that weren’t even raised by magical families yet they were the best duelists of their class, potential of the whole school. The prophecy about the founder’s heirs was on everyone’s minds as they watched the show unfold. Kevin and Harry seemed like dancers as they weaved and danced around spells and fired off their own. It took every ounce of Dumbledore’s Occulumcy shields to not gasp at the sight.

Meanwhile, Kevin was starting to feel the telltale signs of fatigue, not magical but physical. He decided to erect his  _ protego _ and stand still for a moment to catch his breath. Harry tried a repeat of the summoning charm trick he used earlier to no avail as Kevin transfigured an unused chair in the front of the room as a shield from the object. After Kevin regained his strength, he dropped his shield and started using battle transfiguration. He transfigured many creatures from the surrounding objects and tried to overwhelm Harry. Harry knew exactly what Kevin was doing and simply banished the transfigured objects back at him. A few dodges and deflections left Kevin more and more tired and Harry could see the end in sight. Raising his wand he yelled  _ expelliarmus _ as Kevin yelled  _ stupify _ . The two powerful spells met as they clashed for dominance.

Kevin knew it was the end of the match once he cast the stunner, he was outmatched by Harry’s power and could only try to hold on as Harry slowly overpowered him. Once Harry’s spell hit him, Kevin was launched backwards and his wand went flying over to Harry. He landed hard on his back and groaned as Harry reached out and caught his wand. Kevin slowly got back to his feet and shook Harry’s hand before retrieving his wand. The best friends were left panting and exhausted but it was not hard to tell that Harry was a little bit better off than Kevin. They turned to look towards their classmates, which they had somewhat forgotten about, and saw the look of shock on everyone’s faces.

“Merlin, that was the most intense duel I have ever witnessed,” said Lupin as he greeted the boys. They looked at each other and back at him, “I haven’t seen that level of power in anyone before Harry, including Dumbledore. And Kevin, let us not discount the amount of knowledge you possess, I’m not sure most of my OWL level students know all the spells you use and certainly wouldn’t possess the knowledge of how to use them in a duel.” Dumbledore looked at them and declared Harry the winner of the match which was accompanied by cheers from the students. Kevin was happy for his friend and took his defeat much better than most of the students expected. Apparently their duel lasted a lot longer than they had realized and Professor Lupin only had half an hour to discuss the strategies and techniques before the class was dismissed.

Kevin wanted to go to lunch but settled for a quick snack before passing out for the rest of the afternoon. He was enjoying his rest before being abruptly awakened by Harry, “Kevin hurry get up it’s a lightning storm!”


	12. Lightning Storm

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling. 

Unfortunately we are at the point where I am only 1 ½ chapters ahead of posting again. I’m going to try to keep my schedule of 2 posts per week but if I cannot reasonably accomplish this I might have to drop it down to 1. I apologize.

In better news, I have finally finished the rough plan for my Harry Potter stories and I have to say I am super excited. Hopefully this new found excitement will help in writing the story faster so I can get further ahead.

Thanks again for reading - KingCheetah19

**Chapter 12:**

Kevin was enjoying his rest before being abruptly awakened by Harry, “Kevin hurry get up it’s a lightning storm!” He opened his eyes and was out of bed as soon as he could be. Dressing as fast as he could, the boys rushed off to the astronomy tower. Harry had already retrieved the potions from Kevin’s vault so all the boys had to do was reach the tower and drink their potions. 

The best friends reached the tower and drank the potion. The effect was immediate and the boys fainted. Kevin ‘woke up’ to unfamiliar surroundings and he could hear a waterfall nearby. Looking around, he yelled out for Harry but no one responded, ‘this must be the vision’ he thought. Every animagi receives a vision of their animagus form once they drink the potion they created, Kevin was experiencing his vision. Looking around he didn’t see any animals, in fact, besides the waterfall, it was eerily quiet. Soon however, he heard loud flapping noises and was face to face with a large scaly body. He looked at the creature before him and instantly recognized it. It was a medium sized dragon, unlike anything he had ever seen before. Kevin was shocked, there was nothing in any animagus books that said that one’s form could be magical. For all Kevin knew, his form would be the first magical form ever recorded.

He reached out and brushed his hand over the creature. His hand warmed on the touch and he made his observations. The eyes were much like his own, very dark blue that was almost supernatural, he assumed that this was his animagus’ identifying characteristic. The dragon had an iridescent sheen of shiny scales which made it glow almost like a rainbow. The wings were dark blue, almost black. The dragon was at least 8 feet tall and 20 feet long, a good size but certainly not one of the largest like a Horntail. It’s head resembled that of a monitor lizard with a frill that was made of hard bone. It’s claws matched the dark blue in the wings. Kevin looked at the head more closely and noticed the serrated teeth. He allowed his hands to roam more over the body, he was happy. He had no idea that he was so special to acquire such an amazing animagus form. Maybe the prophecy was right about something. He closed his eyes and woke back up in the astronomy tower.

The sun was rising and Harry seemed to be getting up at the same time. “A griffin!” he heard Harry say out loud. Kevin then explained to Harry his own animagus form. They had a long discussion over the fact that they were, quite possibly, the first ever cases for magical animagus forms. They wanted to go out to the forest and try morphing into their forms but that would have to wait until the cover of darkness later in the day.

Many hours later, they returned to the astronomy tower for their class. Kevin was getting anxious, he just wanted to try his new form and fly for the first time. Luckily for him, astronomy ended early and, as all of his classmates went back to their dorms, Harry and Kevin snuck out to the forbidden forest. Once they arrived and wandered a good distance into the forest, the boys paused, took deep breaths and focused on their forms. Kevin could feel his body shifting and soon his senses started to change. His eyes could see more colors, he could smell for miles, he could taste the air similarly to a snake. Kevin looked at his reflection in a nearby puddle, he did it. He was now a dragon, he turned back to look at his best friend and saw that he had had similar success.

Harry was now a large griffin. Kevin’s dragon contrasted with the pale brown feathers of Harry’s form. Kevin could see a lightning bolt shaped mark on the beak, his eyes the same light shade of green almost emerald. He noticed that they were around similar sizes but Harry was slightly smaller than him. Kevin had a much larger wingspan but Harry was longer. It was then that Kevin realized they couldn’t communicate with each other. He tried to speak but only a roar came out, then he heard, ‘Kevin can you hear me?’

‘Umm, yes?’ He responded in his head trying to figure out why Harry was able to telepathically communicate with him. 

‘I think it’s because of our magical animagus forms. Normally people don’t have a magical animagus therefore they can talk normally with each other but since we are magical we communicate more on telepathy,” said his friend. The more and more Kevin thought about it, the more it made sense. Magical creatures had been known to communicate over very large distances and coordinate unlike any creature on the planet. Maybe telepathic abilities explained that phenomenon. 

The two best friends walked around the forest talking about their new forms. They had already decided to go unregistered because it was strategic to have some secretes when it came to their magical abilities. They knew they were being watched during classes and they impressed many people but this also put more of a target on their backs. Harry was the Boy-Who-Lived, the Heir of Slytherin, and Lord Potter meaning his list of potential enemies was high. Kevin wasn’t nearly as famous but was starting to show that he was a powerful wizard himself. Power was a good and bad thing for the boys. It showed that they were not to be messed with but it also inspired challenge.

After about an hour of getting used to their new bodies Kevin was starting to get curious as to the other aspects of his animagus form. What else could he accomplish in this form? ‘Do you want to try to fly tonight?’ Kevin asked not sure what Harry would think. He knew he wanted to try everything he could but he didn’t want to push Harry too far. 

‘Of course I want to try to fly!’ Harry excitedly said back, ‘Are you crazy? Who doesn’t want to fly?’ Kevin mentally laughed and stretched his wings. He launched from the ground not knowing what to expect. 

It took a couple tries but once in the air, Kevin had the most problems learning how to control his motions. It was almost like learning how to swim for the first time. He had to learn to account for air resistance, buoyancy, center of mass, but soon he got the hang of it. Most of the knowledge, he realized, was instinctual. His mind adapted quickly and it seemed like the knowledge was already there but behind a barrier. He soon found himself soaring through the air, having to use the clouds as cover. If someone looked outside and saw a dragon and a griffin flying around school grounds, a lot of commotion would be made. 

Kevin took a second to look over at Harry. His friend seemed to have the same experience with flying for the first time and had some difficulties. After a moment, he adjusted and no longer had problems. ‘Kevin! This is amazing!’ Harry practically screamed in his head, ‘This might be my favorite thing to do in the world! I thought doing magic was fun but flying is a completely different experience. It’s life changing!’

Kevin gave a mental laugh back at Harry and reminded him that they could only fly for another hour since they both had to go back to the castle and to sleep. It was 30 minutes later and Kevin wanted to try one last thing while being a dragon, breathing fire. At first, all he could do was roar, he had no idea how to breathe fire. After all, it wasn’t natural to him. Kevin delved deep into his own mind, searching for the answers to his problem. It was then that his instincts kicked in, he opened his mouth and a small jet of fire burst out. He could hear Harry’s triumphant cheer in his mind as he pushed more and more out. Kevin decided to call it quits pretty early, worried that the fire he was creating would be more noticeable and draw more attention if anyone was looking at the forest. 

Kevin and Harry shifted back into their human forms once they touched the ground and sprinted back into their private chambers. Both boys collapsed onto their beds and immediately drifted off to sleep. Their first week of Hogwarts was full of surprises and there were even more to come.


	13. Halloween

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling. 

There will be large time jumps occurring throughout the remainder of the story. I cannot seem to like the way I write the classes so I have opted to skip most of that part of the story. I’m sorry. However, hopefully this makes the story seem more interesting and the plot driven more by action.

Thanks again for reading - KingCheetah19

**Chapter 13:**

_ One Month Later _

A month into the school year and the four friends were forming even stronger bonds. Hermione and Kevin were becoming endless encyclopedias of magical knowledge and Harry was starting to work on Neville’s lack of self confidence. However, as the four heirs started to pull ahead from the rest of the school and establish themselves as the next great wizards, some of their peers were starting to rise against them. The most obvious being one Draco Malfoy.

Kevin remembered how Harry explained the interaction on the train and he hoped that his friend was wrong but Malfoy exceeded his expectations in the last month. Kevin never knew the extent of derogatory insults that Malfoy had at his disposal. At first, Kevin never understood the insults and was blissfully unaware. Once Neville informed him on what they meant, it took a lot of effort to endure. Mudblood seemed to be the bully’s favorite word and he would remind Kevin and Hermione of their status every time he saw them. It didn’t matter that he outperformed the ferret in every class, even in his advanced ones, or that he would cream the jerk in a duel. Malfoy wouldn’t stop.

It was on October 31st, Halloween, that it came to a breaking point. Malfoy had not only insulted Kevin for the entire day but Hermione as well, to the point that Kevin drew his wand.

“Keep talking to me and my friend like that Malfoy!” he snapped as Hermione ran off crying, “I couldn’t care less what you saw about me. I. Do. Not. Care. However when you continue to berate and treat my friends like dirt, then you will face me!” Malfoy’s face paled, he obviously didn’t think that Kevin would talk back to him. Kevin nearly challenged the brat to an honor duel just to show him exactly what he was messing with, instead he settled with watching the ferret squirm. A professor seemed to be making their way down towards the commotion but Kevin ran off after his friend.

He ran all the way to the entrance hall to find out that Hermione wasn’t there. He looked around and saw people staring at him, obviously confused why he ran into the hall. Confused, he asked a girl behind them if they saw Hermione. The young woman proceeded to point him in the direction of the girl’s bathroom. After blushing and debating with himself on what to do, Kevin decided to walk to the entrance and talk to Hermione through the door. Once he reached the bathroom, he could hear quiet sobs from within.

“Hermione?” he asked gently, “It’s Kevin, is there anyone else in there with you?”

“Go away Kevin,” she responded quietly, “You don’t want to be friends with me. I’m only going to bring you down.” After hearing this Kevin’s heart broke, he knew his friend was sad but didn’t know the true extent. 

“Hermione I’m coming in,” he said as he pushed the door open slowly allowing plenty of time for someone to clean themselves up. He walked over to his friend, who was curled up in a ball in the corner of the room. Seeing Hermione, the normally funny and happy girl like this really hurt Kevin. He didn’t really understand why it hurt him so bad, ‘I haven’t even known her too long.’ 

“Kevin I asked you to go away, instead you’re breaking the rules coming in here,” Hermione said once she saw her friend enter the room.

“I was worried about you Hermione. You seemed really upset about what Malfoy had said to us,” Kevin responded as he walked over and sat down next to her. They sat in silence as Kevin reached out and held Hermione’s hand as she cried. Kevin was used to bullying, even physical torment. He understood what it was like to be made fun of for his intellect but Malfoy took it a step too far. Bullying itself is bad enough, but when you call someone a mudblood because they aren’t like you and they were born in the muggle world is just horrific. It reminded Kevin of the Holocaust and it made him sick.

“I’m here for you Hermione. Always,” Kevin said as he hugged his best friend, letting her cry more into his robes. They sat there for a few minutes when some crashing sound came from outside the bathroom. The two friends jumped at the noise and quickly raced into the stalls to hide. Unfortunately for the two first years, the noise seemed to get closer and closer until the door to the bathroom was banged sharply open from outside.

Hermione couldn’t hold back a gasp as whatever creature seemed to hear and swung something towards the stalls. It destroyed the walls and nearly hit Kevin as he pushed Hermione to the ground to protect her from the club. He got up quickly and saw what exactly was attacking them, a fully grown mountain troll.

Kevin read up on trolls over the summer during his research on magical language. Troll was a basic language made up of grunts which made it both simple and very hard to learn. It was like trying to learn a language made up of a single word but the pronunciation and enunciation of that word created the meaning. He started to regret not attempting to learn the language now as the giant swung again at the students as they rolled away out of danger. 

Kevin lifted his wand and sent out a strong reducto only to see it bounce off the troll and hit the wall. That was curious, trolls, unlike other magical species like basilisks and dragons, had no natural magical immunity meaning this troll was charmed against spell fire. Instantly, this made the threat level increase as Kevin pushed himself and his friend out of the way of another swing of the club. Kevin’s mind was thinking of ways to deal with the problem that he now faced basically alone. Hermione was in shock and had dropped her wand in the corner, therefore was not very much help. Because of this, he banished his friend out the door to the bathroom hoping that she would be able to run and get help. He accomplished his goal but he tripped over some rubble and caught the troll’s club to the arm. Screaming in pain, he got himself up quickly enough to avoid a death blow.

After seeing Hermione escape the room, the troll seemed to gain some brain cells and proceeded to guard the door. This made Kevin wonder even more about what exactly was happening but was otherwise occupied trying to defend himself. He thought about his animagus form but he decided against it because of how small the room was. He had no choice but to dodge and hope that Hermione would get a professor soon. He was trapped inside the room and the amount of workable space was getting smaller and smaller. 

The club clipped his shoulder but Kevin didn’t think he broke anything this time. He threw a rock at the troll but it barely delayed another swing of the club. Kevin’s blood loss was starting to get to him and he could feel the physical exhaustion he was in. Recalling how he won his first duel against Hermione, he casted  _ Aguamenti _ and then  _ Glacius _ and was pleasantly surprised to note that it stopped the troll from being able to move its feet. While semi-helpful it didn’t limit its attack and the troll continued to try to beat down at Kevin. Kevin tripped over another rock as the hand of the troll started to come down on the spot he landed. 


	14. Life Debts

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling. 

Some good news, I have purchased a special edition box set of the books and the complete edition of the movies. I will be educating myself on the Harry Potter world developed by J.K. Rowling, don’t worry.

I also want to apologize for not posting Friday. I have been doing a lot more reading than writing lately and I’m not as far ahead of my chapters as I want to be. I will try to maintain a 2 post schedule (M/F) but I cannot promise that. From now on I am going to commit to 1 post a week (on M) and maybe a second post on most Fridays but not all. I hope you all understand.

Thanks again for reading - KingCheetah19

**Chapter 14:**

Kevin tripped over another rock as the hand of the troll started to come down on the spot he landed.  _ “Wingardium Leviosa!”  _ he heard as someone shouted the incantation from the hall. Immediately the troll looked around and its club flew straight out of its hands. ‘So they charmed the troll but proceeded to neglect the weapon? How didn’t I think of that?’ Kevin thought to himself. His savior raised the club over the troll’s head and dropped it, knocking the troll out. Kevin barely avoided being crushed by the body as the creature fell down with a large thump. “Kevin are you ok?” called Hermione from the hall.

“Yeah I’m ok,” he said grunting, he made his way to pick up Hermione’s and his wands from the ground and walked out of the bathroom clutching his broken arm. Outside he saw Harry with his wand out.

“Thank you Harry,” Kevin said as he stepped over the body of the troll, “you saved my life.”

“No need to thank me Kevin, I’m just glad you’re okay,” responded his best friend. Harry looked at Kevin and shook his head, “Why weren’t you able to take the troll yourself? You’re more than strong enough.”

“It was charmed to repel spells. Since I was fighting for my life I didn’t try to direct spells at the club,” Kevin responded frustrated with himself for nearly costing his life, “I won’t make that mistake again.”

After that the group was joined by the professors. The group of teachers arrived in obvious shock at the sight of the unconscious troll in the bathroom. “What on Earth happened here?” asked Professor McGonagall in shock. Kevin then explained how Hermione and him ended up in the bathroom, how he banished her out the door, and how he fought for his life until Harry saved him. The students noticed the professor’s shock and looks of dismay as the story was told. Kevin, however, noticed one extra detail. Professor Lupin, it seemed, was out of the castle. This occurred twice so far over the year, both times being replaced by Professor Quirrel who Kevin thought was inadequate for teaching. He didn’t know what significance there was behind Quirrel’s presence but something didn’t sit right with him.

Hermione quickly took Kevin to the hospital wing and, after multiple disgusting potions, Kevin was released. He was told to relax and only do minor and easy spell casting.The friends walked hand in hand down to the great hall for a late dinner. They arrived to many whispers and teasing but Hermione shut it down quickly after she explained that they both nearly died earlier that day. 

Unfortunately the professors had made a point to say something of the events that transpired earlier that day. Malfoy lost a hundred points for Slytherin, Kevin was awarded seventy five for risking his life to save Hermione, and Harry was awarded twenty five because of his show of friendship between house lines. After the announcements they talked about schoolwork and Kevin tried his hardest to have a normal conversation but eventually the topic of the troll was brought up. 

“Kevin you saved my life today, you know what this means, right?” said his friend, Kevin of course already knew where this conversation was going but didn’t stop her from continuing, “It means I owe you a life debt. Thank you for saving my life Kevin. As much as I think that life debts are silly and archaic, I am glad that I owe my debt to you and not another person. I know you won’t abuse it.”

“Hermione, you do not have to thank me for saving your life, anyone would have done the same thing,”Kevin responded quickly, “And do not worry about the life debt. I, Lord Kevin David Schneider-Ravenclaw of sound mind and body do hereby cancel all debts Ms. Hermione Jane Granger-Hufflepuff to myself and my family. So I say, so mote it be.” A bright white light flooded across the great hall as the life debt was nullified. Kevin was glad it worked, he wasn’t sure since he didn’t proclaim all his titles. He wanted to keep his lordships secret.

Harry stood up from his spot at the Gryffindor table, “I, Lord Harry James Potter-Slytherin of sound mind and body do hereby cancel all debts Lord Kevin David Schneider-Ravenclaw to myself and my family. So I say, so mote it be.” A shocked gasp escaped many students across the great hall as another bright white light surged around the room and then disappeared. Kevin nodded at his friend and looked back at Hermione who seemed to be in shock at the situation.

“Why? Why did you do that?” she asked hesitantly, “Life debts are not something that should be taken lightly, they are immensely strong works of magic. No one just releases someone of a life debt, it may have been helpful for you in the future.”

“Hermione, I do not want you to feel indebted to me. You’re one of my best friends, you owe me nothing,” Kevin responded smiling. When Hermione tried to push the conversation, hge shut down her attempts and directed it towards another topic.

_ Two Weeks Later _

After the troll incident the four friends seemed to amass more attention. They could barely go anywhere in the castle without a swarm of whispers and rumors following them. It seemed like rumors of the prophecy spread and now almost every student in the castle knew about their adventure. At first the group enjoyed being the center of attention. For years they had been bullied and ignored so being noticed for their achievements was rare.

After 2 weeks of constant attention and spotlight, their opinions changed. They wanted to shrink into their own holes and hide from the world. It was impossible to go anywhere without getting at least one proposal to go to the Yule Ball, even from students a couple years above them. The spotlight was draining and the group decided to learn the disillusionment charm in order to sneak around and get some peace and quiet.

They were slowing down in their classes, deciding to put more time towards building their friendships than working even further ahead in classes. Neville had a new wand which was custom made thanks to a request from one Harry Potter. His new wand was similar to his friends in the fact that it had a dual core, unicorn and kelpie hair. It was made of cherry wood and only 10 ¼ inches long. Hermione even went to the wandmaker and requested a custom made wand herself. Ollivander obliged, dismantling her old wand and created a new one with her old dragon heartstring wrapped around a fairy wing. This is where the irregularity stopped and the old wandmaker saw that her old wand’s wood and length were correct. Adding a second core was the only difference. The quartet would always be together and were inseparable. Most of their time was spent in the lords’ common rooms. 

After spending a considerable amount of time learning about flying as their broom lessons were starting to occur, the group of friends exited Kevin’s quarters and walked together to the great hall. Once they arrived they saw Dumbledore stand to give an announcement. 

“Unfortunately I did not want to have to announce this at dinner tonight but I must. Please do not enter the 3rd floor corridor. It was warded but students with a passion for games accidentally entered the corridor and it gave them a large shock. I am asking you to refrain from exploring this corridor and remain in the normal ones for the remainder of the year. That is all I have to say, tuck in!” said the headmaster frustratedly. The announcement immediately sprouted rumors of what exactly was in the third floor corridor. Most thought it was more trolls but some had some more creative approaches. 

Kevin didn’t really care much about the announcement at first. He had always been a good rule follower and never really pushed unless something was bothering him. He was only hoping to stay out of life threatening situations for the rest of the year.


	15. Extra Curriculars

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling. 

So, in other news the Hamilton movie came out and wow. I fell in love with the soundtrack but it is nothing compared to seeing the actual play. What an amazing story, it’s so good. If you haven’t seen it yet, you should. I highly recommend it.

Thanks again for reading - KingCheetah19

**Chapter 15:**

They were only hoping to stay out of life threatening situations for the rest of the year. The following Saturday was the first actual flying lesson. First years had been taking optional broom lessons every other weekend but they had yet to actually get on a broom. The first couple lessons were spent going over flying safety and rules. Harry was exceptionally excited for the flying lessons quietly exclaiming, “It will be similar to us being in our animagus forms Kevin! I can’t wait!”

The morning of the lesson, the four friends decided to eat breakfast in Harry’s quarters and then walk down to castle grounds. They were greeted by Madam Hooch who had them gather around with the other students. “Now,” she said to the class, “I want you to try calling your broom to yourself. Hold your wand hand over your broom and say up!”

Kevin tried and nothing happened. He looked at the others and saw similar success. It seemed that only two students had gotten their brooms up on the first try. A Slytherin named Draco Malfoy, and surprisingly Harry. Kevin gave his friend a questioning gaze which was only returned with a shrug. After a dozen more attempts at getting his broom off the ground, Kevin was starting to become nervous. He never struggled with anything in school before. Around him, almost every other student had their brooms already in their hands.

“What? You can’t get a little broom off the ground Schneider?” called the blonde slytherin clearly trying to antagonize Kevin. This only made Kevin even more nervous as he continued to try anything to get the broom into his hand. He debated on just using an  _ Accio _ charm and saving himself the embarrassment but he thought that something like that would be like cheating. Soon Kevin was the last one trying to get his broom to come to him. He could practically feel all the stares on him as he tried as hard as he could to get the broom into his hand.

2 more “Ups” later and Kevin had given up all his hope. “Madam Hooch, could you please continue the class, I don’t want to hold everyone else back. Apparently brooms just don’t like me,” he laughed nervously still trying to understand why exactly he was not succeeding in obtaining the broom. Madam Hooch then directed the students to mount their brooms but Kevin could feel her watching him in her peripherals. Harry seemed to be a natural at flying, he kicked off the ground and was already moving with tremendous speeds. Kevin hadn’t even gotten his broom into his hand yet and was utterly humiliated about the circumstances. HIs friends looked at him nervously but Kevin waved off their concerns. He asked Madam Hooch to be excused and hurriedly ran into the castle. 

On his way inside he passed an excited McGonagall as she walked quickly out to the area the other students were practicing. Kevin decided to take his frustrations out on some test dummies and hurried to a corridor he noticed about half a month into school. It was there that the old Hogwarts dueling club practiced and he went there often to practice his offensive and defensive magic. In this case, he wasn’t there for practice but instead to let off some steam. Walking to one end of the dueling mats, Kevin conjured up a practice mat instead of levitating one of the old ones that were on the other side of the room. He then charmed the dummy to move erratically and unpredictably. After that was done he took a few moments to breathe but then began his assault. It became a storm of intense magic as Kevin threw spell after spell at the dummy and never relented. The temperature in the room dropped dramatically and Kevin's dark blue eyes began to shimmer in the room. 

As he continued to decimate the poor test dummy, the atmosphere in the room only became more intense. Anyone that entered the corridor or the adjacent hallway could feel the ambient magic in the air almost like feeling static electricity. Kevin’s eyes began to glow brighter and he was perceiving more. More and more of his spells were landing as the dummy began to crumble under all the magical stress. After a final immobilizing spell chain, Kevin relented and stepped back in the dueling circle. He looked at his work, the conjured dummy was cracked to the point where it looked like a small tap would disintegrate it. Proud and feeling much better, Kevin was just beginning to feel the signs of light magical exhaustion. He stepped off the platform and turned to see a small group of students being led by Professor Flitwick. 

The group seemed to be in awe of the sight they just witnessed and Kevin looked away nervously before allowing his conjuring to crumble into dust. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know that you were using this room,” he said while quickly walking towards the exit, “I’m leaving now.” 

“Wait! Mr. Schneider, please join us!” called the professor as he hurried to catch Kevin at the other end of the corridor, “We were having the first dueling club meeting today, would you be interested in joining?”

Kevin looked back at the professor confused, “Uh, I guess? What exactly does the club do?” After Kevin asked the question Flitwick proceeded to tell him about the sport. Apparently, much like how each house had a quidditch team, they also had a dueling team. The ‘varsity’ team was made up of 3 members, one captain and two core members. He was introduced to them As Kevin looked around he saw 10 others that were ‘sub-varsity.’ Kevin learned that dueling was held in a similar light to quidditch at Hogwarts, there was a Dueling Cup for the winning team at the end of the year tournament. Besides the end of the year tournament the team had 6 other matches that determined the seeding. 

The rest of the meeting was mostly introductions and an itinerary for practices. Just like quidditch, practices were daily and Ravenclaw had the earliest practice window, right after their last classes. Kevin noticed he was the youngest one there but it seemed that Professor Flitwick was already planning on placing him on varsity. He introduced Kevin to the captain, 7th year Jonathan Wilks, and another fellow varsity duelist, a 5th year named Penelope Clearwater who, like him, seemed to be young compared to the other 6th and 7th grade students. Kevin noticed the hierarchy of players Professor Flitwick listed out on the board. It seemed that Flitwick had very high hopes for Kevin indeed, placing him second in the ‘rankings’ only behind Wilks. He was confused about this, Flitwick had only seen him duel a couple of times, how could he think Kevin was good enough to place him higher than more experienced duelists? The question would have to be answered another day since the meeting was adjourned and the Ravenclaws walked out as the Slytherins took their place in the dueling corridor.

Kevin was excited to be a part of the group, his only real friends were Harry, Hermione, and Neville. Of course there were other people trying to be friends with him but he could never get over the feeling that most of those people were just trying to use him. But now he had the chance to make real friends in a club he had no idea existed. Things were starting to look up again after a rough start of his day.


	16. The Core Four and Their Amazing Friends

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling.

Thanks for reading - KingCheetah19

**Chapter 16:**

Things were starting to look up again after a rough start of the year. Kevin went to lunch where he found his usual seat next to Hermione. “Are you okay Kevin? You seemed to run out of broom practice very abruptly,” said his friend when he took his seat. He responded saying he was okay and explained to Hermione about his inclusion in the dueling team.

“You too?!” she said excitedly, “Harry was offered a position on the quidditch team, seeker, I think.” He smiled and looked over to his best friend and saw him talking to some older gryffindor students who he assumed to be on the team with him. Harry introduced Hermione to his own teammates and she immediately struck up a conversation with Penelope Clearwater. Although she was 4 years older than them, Penelope seemed really kind and genuine, she didn’t speak down to them as if they were lower than her. By the end of the day, the two ravenclaws gained another friend, a fact that surprised both of them. 

Besides Harry, Kevin was alone in muggle school from day one, bullied for his intelligence and some weird occurrences that happened around him (that he now knew was because he was a wizard). Hermione, on the other hand, was completely alone. She confided in Kevin one day that her only friends were the characters that she read in her many books. Now that they made it to Hogwarts, it seems that the two ravenclaws have finally found their place and have started to make their first friends. 

Harry and Neville seemed to be making their own friends in gryffindor. Two red headed boys, who Kevin knew as Fred and George Weasely. The group was ever expanding but one day while at dinner, they were approached by some students from outside of their houses. Kevin, Hermione, Harry, and Neville were sitting outside eating dinner in the fall air with Penelope, Fred, and George. They were enjoying each other’s company before being interrupted by a couple more students.

“Hello,” said one red headed girl timidly, “May we join you?” When Harry motioned for the group to sit another red headed boy started talking.

“We saw you enjoying the fresh air and decided to introduce ourselves, my name is Ron Weasley. I’m a Slytherin and a first year student like most of your group. To my right is Daphne Greengrass, fellow Slytherin and my best friend in the house,” he said pointing at the dark haired girl sitting to his right, “Susan Bones was the girl you first talked to and her friend Hannah Abbott is next to her. They are both from Hufflepuff. I just wanted to see if you wanted to help us with our classes, you all are really advanced.”

From that day forward, the group expanded. Harry and Neville seemed to get along with the three Weasley brothers the most and, when they weren’t with Kevin and Hermione, they were almost always found together having fun. Kevin and Hermione bonded more with the quiet Hufflepuffs, Susan and Hannah, and the proud Slytherin, Daphne. It wasn’t long before Daphne was joining the group in the advanced defense class, while Susan was in the advanced transfiguration one. Kevin and Harry couldn’t believe their luck. They had many late night conversations about how incredible it was to finally have a good core group of friends to be around and how Dudley would think of them now that they had one of the largest friend groups at Hogwarts. 

It was those late nights that brought back awful memories of ‘home’ in Surrey. Harry’s constant abuse at the hands of his relatives and Kevin’s inability to get him help. Dudley had deemed to graduate from taunting to physical violence the year before, and started the game known as ‘Freak Hunting.’ In this horrible game Harry and Kevin were forced to run and hide at school because, if they got caught, the boys would be beaten by Dudley and his friends. Harry had spent most of his nights at the Schnieder’s residence, avoiding his relatives any chance he got. Now, at Hogwarts, it seemed that the two had the best chances of making more friends and hoped that when they went home for the summer it wouldn’t be for long.

With these friends they started to do more things together. After quidditch and dueling practices, Kevin and Hermione started to teach the group foreign languages. They decided to start with French which Daphne and Harry were picking up quite fast. Harry decided to work more on physical exercises with Kevin, Neville, and Ron in order to help him get in shape for quidditch. Neville started to teach the group about Herbology while Susan and Daphne went into depths on wizarding politics and economics. The group was slowly growing and understanding more about each other and the world they lived in. 

Classes were still really easy for the core four members and the extracurriculars were starting to pick up. Harry had his first quidditch match against Slytherin and soundly defeated the snakes. He caught the snitch just before the other seeker had the chance and helped cement gryffindor as the favorite to win this year’s quidditch cup. The group celebrated after the match in Harry’s common room and prepared for the next day. Kevin had his first dueling match against hufflepuff where he proved himself to be the strongest duelist on the team. Professor Flitwick congratulated him on his success and Kevin was glad to see all of his friends in the stands. 

Over the next few weeks a lot of progress was made. Harry was steadily increasing his progress in understanding quidditch and was able to perform many of the special formations and maneuvers that Oliver Wood had told him about. On the other hand, he had also learned quite a bit. He was nearing being fluent in French and had almost mastered the Patronus Charm. Kevin and Hermione were not far behind in practice of the charm but Neville needed some more time to catch up. Kevin was now the premier dueler for the dueling club and could now beat Harry in a duel 3 out of 4 times. He was starting to excel in his free time as well, he perfected his Mandarin and Swedish and was able to understand Mermish well but he couldn’t speak it as well as he would have liked. He now had switched muggle languages and started working on Bulgarian and Russian alongside his addition practice with Mermish. Hermione was now working on Spanish after learning the basics of Latin. She also was working on Ancient Runes and getting ahead for that class. She decided that she would rather spend time in her Magical Theory advanced class on Runes since she had already finished the year’s curriculum and there wasn’t a Magical Theory class for second years and above. Instead the class was a transitional one for young wizards to understand the ‘magic behind magic’ as the professor would say. Neville devoted himself to his interest in Herbology and his fitness. Neville was slightly pudgy at the beginning of the year but he had started to get into better and better shape while working out with Harry. Herbology wasn’t a class offered to first years but it was an elective for second years and above so he would be taking it next year. 

The group went outside one day to enjoy the cool autumn air before the harsh Scottish winter was upon them. The ‘Core Four’ or ‘Future Founders’ were the new nicknames given to Kevin, Harry, Hermione, and Neville as they seemed to be the ones who would draw others into the group. Lily Austin and Sue Li, two shy first year ravenclaws, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, two first year friends in gryffindor, and Henry Crees, a 3rd year hufflepuff friend of Susan Bones, joined the group before November. As winter began to set into the castle the group made its way indoors, usually ending up in the common rooms during meals. They enjoyed each other’s company and learned quite a bit. 

Before they knew it, final semester exams were taking place. The Core Four earned mostly Outstandings(O). Neville was unable to obtain anything higher than an Acceptable(A) in potions and an Exceeds Expectations(E) in Magical Theory. Harry, similarly obtained an E in potions with Snape’s biased grading system. Kevin and Hermione, however, achieved straight Os and were battling it out for top student of their year. Even with the competition and the stress with classes, all of them wouldn’t let it bother them. Instead they were enjoying their time at Hogwarts with all their new friends.


	17. The Holidays

**Preface:**

Obligatory I do not own and I would never claim to own any of the Harry Potter characters, settings, storylines, or anything else I use in this fanfiction. All of that is the work of the incredibly talented J.K. Rowling.

I read fanfiction more than I write it. I will try to refrain from using similar plots, characters, and other elements as much as possible but it is a given that some things I read from other fics will end up influencing how I write this story. If you want to read some of my favorite stories, please look at my favorite stories page listed at the bottom of my FFN.net page or ask me about my AO3 subscriptions. Do not hesitate to ask me about some of the stories I am currently reading/have read. 

Hello again my readers, I apologize for not posting an update in such a long time. Life caught up to me it seems. I had a very large occurrence of writer's block in writing one of the following chapters. I’m not quite where I want to be in order to start consistently posting again but I’m posting this as a trial. I have seen a couple of comments on AO3 asking me to continue and I was never planning on discontinuing this story in it’s entirely. If I get a good response from this chapter I will work more on writing the new chapters. Unfortunately, this chapter will be a short one to get back into the swing of things but the next ones will be longer.

Thanks for reading and please leave a review. Your feedback and comments are  **always** appreciated - KingCheetah19

  
  


**Chapter 17: The Holidays**

Kevin, Harry, Hermione and Neville were enjoying their time at Hogwarts with all their new friends. Now that classes were over, they all had a week until Yule. Most students decided to stay for the first part of the Yule holiday, electing to leave after the Yule Ball was over. Dance partners were starting to get few and far between. Harry was asked by Lily Austin to join her at the ball, at first he was hesitant but over the last few weeks he had really gotten to know her through their group of friends. Because of this, he decided to accept her invitation to the ball. It took another 2 days before Neville had his date. He asked Hannah Abbott to the ball, as friends. She happily accepted and Kevin thought that she had hoped they were going as something more.

Kevin’s date wasn’t decided until 2 days before the event was scheduled to occur. He wasn’t really sure if he wanted to go with a date or if he wanted to go by himself. One afternoon, after teaching Harry and Daphne more French, Hermione asked if he would talk to her in private afterwards. “Kevin,” she said timidly, “I’m not sure what your plan is for the Yule Ball, if you’ve decided you’re going alone or something, but I wanted to see if you wanted to go together.” After Kevin took a moment to process the request she continued, “You know, as friends? I just think it will be more enjoyable for us. That way we don’t have to get hounded by people asking us to be their dates.” She laughed at the end of her sentence, by the time Yule had rolled around the attention and craziness surrounding the Troll situation had died down dramatically. It was almost to the point where it was almost back to normal, well, as normal as it could have been with them in advanced classes and heirs to the founders’ houses.

After taking a second to think it over Kevin responded, “Sure Hermione, I would love to go with you to the ball. What color dress are you wearing?” Hermione told him that she was wearing a ‘ravenclaw blue’ dress which proceeded to make Kevin laugh. No one else besides Hermione would wear their house colors to the ball. He told her that he would just wear his ravenclaw tie then and they proceeded to laugh more about the situation. Kevin went to sleep that night actually excited about the ball. As introverted and antisocial as he was, he was glad that he would get to spend the night with his friend. Deep down, he thought there may have been something more to his feelings but he couldn’t quite place what exactly that was so he decided to think it over more later. 

On Christmas Eve, Harry and Kevin suggest to Neville and Hermione to spend the day together instead of with the entire group. The four layered themselves and went outside to spend time on the castle grounds. They reflected on their first semester at Hogwarts and the introduction they had into the magical world. For the muggleborns (and muggle raised) the new world they found themselves in was as magical as the name suggested. At home they were alone, bullied, and ridiculed. At Hogwarts they found their friends, place, and meanings. For the first time during the holiday season they were looking forward to the rest of the year and spending time learning and living with magic. Their lives had changed drastically for the better. For Neville, his life was not as turbulent. He was always treated with respect and he grew up around magic, so the world wasn’t new to him. However, his gran had always kept him home, secluded from the world around him. Now that he had the chance to interact with people and magic, he was happy for the first time in a while. It was like the group finally found their places, together they were better than by themselves. 

They walked around the semi-frozen Black Lake and decided to sit down at one of the benches that were scattered around the shoreline. Kevin missed his family back in Surrey but also had decided that these were the best holidays he'd ever had. He’s never had a group of friends before and he did not want to go back. He made a silent promise to himself that he would do everything in his power to protect these new connections he was making. The group discussed their classes and how they were progressing with spell work. After their exams at the end of the first semester, they were confident in their abilities in class. Because of this they decided to slow down and teach their new friends more and pursue their newfound hobbies. Instead of focusing entirely on academic conversations their conversation transitioned more towards their plans after the year would end. Kevin and Harry decided to go explore their new properties they had acquired in their inheritances. Neville and Hermione promised to get their inheritance tests taken at Gringotts at the beginning of the summer holidays. Since Harry and Kevin were emancipated because of their inheritances, they thought it would be likely that Hermione and Neville would be as well. 

After a long discussion, the four made their way back up into the castle for dinner. They hadn’t realized they missed lunch until Ron and Daphne came out to let them know what time it was getting. After lunch the group decided to go back to their rooms to study for a little while. Kevin made his way up to his common room and immediately got to work on transfiguration practice. He wanted to incorporate battle transfiguration into his duels more often. After a couple hours he was able to finally get his rocks to transform into larger creatures. 

Kevin prided himself on his small animal transfigurations. He could transfigure butterflies, rats, birds, and small reptiles easily. Where he struggled was his larger transfigurations. Having to imagine large complex biomechanical models was difficult and it made animating them even harder. Of course, his friends had hard times transfiguring insects so his difficulties with larger animals were understandable. The first 30 minutes he was practicing, he was studying muggle textbooks full of anatomical diagrams of felines and canines. The next three hours saw him making half complete transfigurations of pebbles into deformed cats and dogs. It took more tries than he would like to admit to successfully transfigure a cat and even more to transfigure a dog, however, once he got the first transfiguration complete, his next ones came very naturally to him. It was like this for a lot of different spells, it would take him more time to learn it the first time but once he got it once, he hardly ever had trouble replicating it. He decided to call it a night after working for more than 3 hours, animating the newly transfigured creations could wait until another day. After all, it was Christmas Eve and he still had a lot planned for that day.


End file.
